A Second Beginning
by Sannikex
Summary: For Ginny Weasley, being thirty-two years old and divorced while struggling to raise a teenage son on her own, romance just isn't on the map. But when help comes from the most unexpected source she has to re-examine her priorities. Draco Malfoy has it all, the house, the job and the perfect son, but when he meets Ginny Weasley again he realizes all of what he never had. D/G.
1. Chapter 1

A Second Beginning

By

Sannikex

"_For last year's words belong to last year's language_

_And next year's words await another voice._

_And to make an end is to make a beginning_."

– T.S. Eliot

Ginny Weasley was woken up by what sounded like monkeys on crack crashing through her windows and ransacking her house. She sighed and rolled over. Teenagers were supposed to sleep in, not wake up at…she glanced at her alarm clock - 8:30 on a Saturday morning. The music – if you could call it that – was normal. Or so the many books she'd read on the topic of raising a teenage son on your own told her.

Knowing that short of cutting the power in the house there wasn't anything she could do to make him turn it down. Bribes, threats and cajoling would be to little avail, so she got up and put on her ratty bathrobe over her pajamas. Heading down the stairs in the tiny house she now shared with her son she compared it to the house she had lived in with Harry. It was positively minuscule but it was all her salary from the Ministry and the money she got from Harry (that she accepted only so her son could avoid the cross to bear that was second hand robes) could afford.

Still, it was all theirs and she liked it. She'd loved the house she and Harry had shared, the spacious, bright rooms, the roses that climbed the outside wall, the big garden. It was perfect for the large family she had wanted to raise. She had wanted more children and maybe a dog or two to run in and out of all those rooms. But it wasn't to be. Harry was and always would be, everybody's. He couldn't be just Harry Potter the husband of Ginny or dad of James. He was the Savior and he'd never stop being the one people looked to in times of trouble.

He had never been able to say no to people who depended on him for help and no matter how much she loved that about him it left him with no time for his family. The first two years after James had been born he had stayed at home more, declined requests and screened visitors and calls. But slowly he had slipped back into it. How did his wife's claim to his attention compare to that of a despairing mother of a murdered child?

It wasn't as if she had ever thought she was more important than the victims who reached out to him for help, but when she realized she and James would never be Harry's first thought she had gotten fed up. She deserved to be her husband's first thought. Her son deserved a dad who didn't just drop in a few times a month to ruffle his hair and then sink into thought, still at work in his head.

So she'd left him the choice to be the Savior of all or James' dad and when the fighting had subsided she could swear he had looked relieved to leave them behind. He still saw James once a month but the few visits seemed to upset her son more than they settled him down. Maybe they only served to remind him of a life that could never be.

As she filled the kettle she wondered, for the millionth time, why her son, the easy-going, funny, charming boy she'd known had so abruptly turned into a teenage terror, decisively laying all the blame for his father's absence on her. Where had the sweet-natured little boy who would pull at her sleeve to show her something, take her hand and lead her to it, all the while smiling with his brown eyes shining, gone? Her little darling with the twinkling eyes and the quick laugh, where was he? Who was the brooding menace she had gotten in return?

She heard the music decrease in volume and thanked Merlin she hadn't called him on it. It was apparently no fun to torture your mother if you got no response for it.

o.O.o

"You look tired, Gin."

"Gee, thanks, dad." Her father's eyes followed her as she entered the office, hanging her cloak and depositing her briefcase on the desk with the tiny sign spelling her name. Next to it was a picture of a six-year-old James, smiling with a gap in his teeth and a miniature toy broom she played with on slow days.

"Did you not sleep well?" Since he was her dad and one of the people she trusted implicitly in the world, she sat down heavily as her shoulders slumped.

"James was in a right vicious mood all day yesterday. Finally I called it and we had a shouting match that probably woke the neighbors. I doubt I slept more than a few hours. I just don't know what to do anymore. I think he hates me, dad."

"He doesn't hate you, dear. He's a teenager. I recall you telling your mum and I you hated us and slamming a few doors during your teens." How could she tell her dad that it was so much worse? How could she tell him when she looked at her son she didn't recognize him anymore? "Why don't you send him over to your mum for a few days? She'll set him straight."

It was ever so tempting. Send James to her mum; see how he handled the wrath of Molly Weasley. After seven children there was little she couldn't deal with. But she shook her head.

"I need to figure this out myself. He's my son, I should be able to get through to him."

"Just don't take what he says to heart, Gin-bug." It was hard not to, when all he said were things she had accused herself of in her head. With a sigh she pushed the problem away, for now.

"What's on the agenda today then?"

The Department of Magic-Muggle Cooperation was fairly new but had a lot of responsibilities already.

"Check-ups on M-in-Ms, mostly." M-in-M stood for Magics in Muggle World. After the war, when the stigma of Muggles largely disappeared, many wizarding families had moved to the other side. There was more housing, more space, more jobs and all the wizards had to do was keep their magic use discreet. It was a popular trend and their department was flooded with check-ups, as the use of magic had to be controlled.

Home visits with a spell performed to see what magic had been used within the house was one useful way to make sure the wizards weren't overstepping too much. Just last week Ginny had discovered a man who set fire to things in his apartment to get money from his Muggle insurance company. As the fires couldn't be explained the company kept having to pay.

With risks as those, check-ups were required. She didn't mind them, they got her out of the office and she got to talk to people. In fact she had been considering moving to the Muggle side as well, to get James away from all who knew he was the son of Harry Potter, to make the reminders of his dad less frequent. Most seemed happy on the Muggle side, glad to get away from houses with ghouls banging on the pipes and less problematic pests than gnomes.

"Okay, hit me." Her dad handed her a list and Ginny scanned it quickly. It didn't look too bad a day. After grabbing her cloak again she set off.

o.O.o

The last name on the list gave her a start. Malfoy? She couldn't imagine anyone less likely to move to the Muggle side, but there his name was on the list, plain as day. Two registered wizards, _Malfoy, Draco_ and his son _Malfoy, Scorpius_, along with an address in London. Carefully she followed the Apparation directions and found herself in a lush, green glade. Confused, she looked around. This couldn't be London.

It was quiet and the air was perfumed with the smell of fresh cut grass and something floral. Around her were trees that must be centuries old, and a somewhat unkempt hedge. She saw a trail of stone slats and followed them, marveling at how pretty and peaceful the place was. As she went she began hearing sounds of traffic, muffled, but still there. She turned a sharp corner and saw the house. It was a beautiful Regency-style town house with a stucco porch, all white and graceful, with little wrought iron balconies and blue planters with flowers spilling over them.

"Incredible," she breathed and curiously approached the door. It was obviously the back of the house but being able to Apparate into your own garden in the middle of Muggle London had to be convenient. She knocked and as she waited let her gaze drink in more of the beautiful surroundings.

There was a little French café style table with two elegant chairs around it on a small patio, surrounded by greens. It had to be amazing to have coffee out there in the morning sun, maybe read the paper or stroll through the gardens with a mug in your hand. Under a shelter from rain was what looked like a comfortable rattan armchair. Someone had slung a blanket over it and there was a dent in the pillows, along with a novel and a cup. Her heart yearned a little. When was the last time she had cozied up with a book in a garden? Her little house had only a speck of token grass by the front door facing the street.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the door opened. Then her brain could only form one coherent thought. _Wow_. The man in the doorway was devastatingly handsome, tall and lithe, in grey dress trousers and a pearl-white shirt. His thick blond hair fell in front of eyes the color of liquid mercury that just seemed to draw her in. They were dark compared to his hair and complexion and she just couldn't look away. His features were sharp, like the men in those Muggle ads for suits, with high cheekbones and a defined jaw. He lifted an eyebrow in inquiry,

"Weasley?" Hearing his voice, the same slight sarcastic lilt to it as the last time she'd heard it, back at Hogwarts, brought her back. What was she doing, drooling over Draco Malfoy of all people?

"Mr. Malfoy. I'm here on account of the Ministry." She tapped the silver badge pinned to the lapel of her black Muggle suit.

"Oh, you're our Magic-Muggle liaison." He said it with an air of slight amusement, as if it was funny to have such an office.

"Yes, I'm here to perform standard check-up procedure."

"Come on in then, Mrs. Potter." Straight-backed, she walked past him, into the house.

"It's Ms. Weasley, actually."

"Oh. Pardon me." He was surprisingly civil and she decided if he could be a grown-up, then so could she.

"No problem. I have to scan all the rooms of the house for illegal use of magic, and ask you a few questions. Would you prefer I scan before or after?"

"Before, if you don't mind. I'll take you around, Ms. Weasley." At the moment they were standing in an entrance hall, she realized as she tore her gaze from the magnetic depths of his eyes, with black and white checkered floor and pale green walls. Black and white photos adorned them and Ginny itched to peek at a few. She could see they were good. Another door, that she assumed was the street entrance, was directly opposite the door she had come through and in between there was a stairwell on one end, and another door leading away to other rooms.

"Should we start upstairs?"  
"Please." Who would have thought, a Weasley and a Malfoy, painfully cordial, walking through an interior designer's dream? He led the way and they reached the end of a hallway on the upper floor. Malfoy knocked on it and waited.

"My son is home for the summer", he explained and Ginny nodded. She'd forgotten he had a son. She heard a muffled "come in" and they entered. It was surprisingly tidy. James' room always looked like he'd just been robbed, all drawers pulled open and their contents spread over every flat surface. This room had some scattered pieces of clutter but the floor was fully visible.

"Score, this is Ms. Weasley, she's here from the Ministry to check up on our magic use. Have you been playing around with those disemboweling spells? Cause she'll see if you did." Ginny almost fainted at his casual tone and then realized it was a joke. The boy sitting in front of the computer turned and grinned at his dad.

"But you told me to practice." Ginny saw that even though this boy was as dark in his coloring as his father was fair, they were nearly copies of each other. She pitied the poor teenage girls at Hogwarts who had to be pining for the young boy already. He couldn't be older than her own son, yet he was smiling at his dad widely, before nodding to her in greeting. She couldn't get James to behave with such politeness for any kind of bribe.

"Ms. Weasley, this is the mutant I won in poker and pass off as my son, Scorpius. Score, Ms. Weasley and I went to Hogwarts together, once upon a time." She couldn't help smiling at the easy interaction between father and son.

"Nice to meet you, Scorpius."

"Score, " the boy corrected quickly. "But you look half my dad's age, Ms. Weasley, are you sure you went to school with him?" His face was innocent, but he ruined the effect somewhat by smirking at his dad. She laughed as Draco sent his son a dark look, softened by a smile.

"I'm sending you back to the mutants, miscreant."

"Finally, I'll get to see my real family again!"

"And admire the family resemblance. Hey, you left your stuff out in the garden, it looks like rain so you should go bring it in." Ginny expected to hear an excuse or a flippant "I'll do it later", but Scorpius only sent a wistful glance at his computer before leaving the room. How come Malfoy had this easy-going relationship with his son and she couldn't say good morning to hers without starting a shouting match? Was _Draco Malfoy_ a better parent than she?

"Excuse the joke, that's what Gryffindors usually assume I do in my…_lair_." His voice was humorous but she saw some shadows lurking in his eyes.

"If you were disemboweling people I'd assume you would hide it better." She thought she saw him smile as he led her down the hall.

Automatically she checked the room and saw only lighting and cleaning spells come up in the chart. She followed as Malfoy took her through the rest of the rooms - a study, two guest bedrooms and his bedroom, before heading downstairs again and repeating the performance in a dining room, a kitchen, a library, a living room and a storage room.

All of it was beautiful. Ginny couldn't help envying the atmosphere, the comfortable elegance of it. She'd have pegged Malfoy as more of a contemporary steel, glass and chrome type, with no room for homey clutter. But there was beautiful old furniture; all rooms looked lived in and there were scatterings of personality throughout.

The rain started to fall just as they got back into the kitchen and Ginny gratefully accepted the offer of coffee. This was her last stop of the day and she would need a pick-me-up to summon the energy to go home and deal with her son. He'd probably dragged his butt out of bed a few hours ago, then cluttered up the place while playing video games, expecting her to bring home food, cook it and clean up the mess he'd made.

Scorpius rushed in to escape the rain and she noticed he had folded the throw and put it away, then put his cup in the dishwasher and brought his book with him upstairs. Tired after a long day, feeling strangely relaxed and at home in Malfoy's spacious kitchen, she couldn't help asking,

"How do you do it?" He looked up from where he was measuring coffee beans, putting them into a strange little machine.

"Do what?"

"Get your son to behave like that? My son behaves like the spawn of a bipolar grindylock. They look to be around the same age, you're raising him alone and yet he's so…well adjusted. Happy." He pressed a button on the machine and it made a terrible racket, but the smell of coffee, more intense than she'd ever smelled it, filled the room. He seemed to think as he got out something she did recognize, a cafétière, just like the one Hermione made coffee in. He put the now ground coffee into it and pressed a button on the kettle to boil it. It came to life and hummed as he turned and leaned back against the counter.

"He wasn't always. Score's mum was… _is_ not interested in being a parent. She was never really there for him, always distracted by her own things. But I figured a little of her was better than none at all, so I stayed." He shrugged and looked out the window. "But as Score got older I came to realize her neglect was just too obvious if we stayed the way we were. So I told her to go. She didn't make a sound of protest. She's called a few times but I think she's happier without us." He turned back and got two blue mugs out of the cupboard and at her affirmative nod, milk from the fridge. As the kettle popped to signify it was ready he poured milk into a matching blue jug and she thought disconnectedly that her mother would approve.

"Score didn't handle it too well at first, he was just nine then, and had to realize his mother didn't really want him. It made him act out. I thought seriously about locking him up and not letting him out until he was behaving like a human being again. I was at the end of my tether. I just didn't know what to do." He poured the boiling water into the coffee and stirred it before replacing the lid. Then he sent her a quick glance before tapping the coffee pot with his wand. Sticking it back in his pocket she wondered what head done to it. He picked up the cups and the pot and turned fully. "In the end, I sat him down and talked to him like an adult. Told him I was sorry about his mother but that we were in it together now and that he would have make do with me, cause I was all there was. He seemed to respond to that. We're a team now and she's out of the picture. That's how we deal with things. He's my best friend as well as my son."

He set the brewed coffee on the table and when she thanked him, it was for more than the drink. Deciding he had been more honest than she could have ever hoped, and knowing he had been in a similar situation, she started to tell him the real story of what went on in her house. Haltingly at first, but faster and faster the words tumbled out of her mouth. To finally voice her innermost fears, about ruining her son's childhood, about maybe staying with Harry, about him hating her for leaving his dad was strangely relieving. Through it all Draco Malfoy just listened, slowly sipping coffee and nodding for her to continue. When she'd finished she felt as if she'd run for miles, slightly shaky and out of breath.

"He doesn't hate you, you know."

"I'm not so sure anymore."

"It sounds to me like he is pushing at you because he knows you'll always stay. He doesn't know that about his dad. It's easier to take it out on the ones you know love you, cause they'll stay anyway." He set his cup down and turned it by the handle. "At the root of it I think all children blame themselves for not being enough, for not making their parent want to stay. He probably feels it's something he did, or didn't do, and now he's testing you to see if you're going to run too." It made such sense when he said it. Why hadn't anyone been able to see it before? Why hadn't she?

"It's not his fault! Harry's just…" She didn't finish the sentence, suddenly she felt like she was betraying Harry by talking about him with a person she knew he hated. Well, maybe not hated anymore, but certainly wasn't fond of.

"Not father of the year?"

"He is." But really, what was the point of hiding it at this point? "When he has the time. It's not often." Malfoy nodded.

"Guess it's not easy juggling time between being the Savior, having people flock to you like goslings to a mother goose and maintaining your own life at the same time." She shook her head, surprised that he possessed enough empathy to put himself in Harry's shoes.

"No, it's not. There is always someone who needs help, desperately and he can't tell them no. I felt like a bad person for wanting more from him than what he could give but I think my son is better off without being benevolently ignored."

"Weasley, however noble the reason, neglect is neglect. You have to consider yourself and your son and do what's best for you two. Potter made his choice and put others before himself and before you and your son. Now he'll have to live with it."

Her own family hadn't offered as much support as she had just gotten from the most unlikely source imaginable. They had all thought she was selfish for wanting more of Harry's time. But wasn't she allowed to be? She'd stood by him, never fully being part of his life for so long. She'd been supportive, tried to help, and he'd never turned to her. She wasn't sure he could. He was always going to belong to the whole world, not Ginny Weasley, and he wouldn't let her close enough to actually be part of his life.

It was time for a new chapter, a chapter for her and her son. Harry would always be in her life and part of her would always love him but it was time she stood up for what she wanted. She had to step out of his shadow, stop being Harry Potter's silently supportive wife. She had always been there to help him when he needed her and then disappeared back into a needless void without him until he had time for her again. It had never been about her. It was time her life was hers again.

With a decision made Ginny felt as if part of the weight shifted from her shoulders.

"You're right, I think. I'm going to have to sort this out. Thank you for the coffee and the advice." He stood as she left and as she cast a look behind her at the beautiful house she saw his silhouette, made shimmering through the sheets of rain, still in the kitchen. She thought he raised a hand in a wave and she responded before hurrying back to the Apparition point.

o.O.o

Draco Malfoy stood by the window, watching the rain fall in his garden, his mind on the woman who had hurried through it to the Apparition point. It had been a shock to see her again. The years hadn't changed her much. The vibrant red hair hadn't dulled and the figure in her dumpy suit was as supple as always. The second shock was to realize that she still made him want like he had as a teenager just from seeing her again. The years he'd spent denying it to himself had been of little use as one glimpse of her had his mind spinning the way it had when he'd been fifteen and she had been forbidden to him in more ways than he could count. How he'd hated her for it, for making him want her while she probably cared less for him than mud under her shoe.

He sat back down to fiddle with his cup. Hers was still where she'd left it and just the knowledge that she'd held it in her hands, touched it with her lips made his heart beat faster. _Merlin, Malfoy, get it together_. She was just as unattainable now as she had been then. The Princess of Gryffindor, she had been his opposite in every way. Everyone had loved her, he remembered. Flocked to her like moths drawn to a light. In many ways that's how he had thought of her. A bright flame among the fluttering, grey moths surrounding him. She'd whirled through his school year thoughts like the last bright leaf in an autumn breeze. A splash of color, of life. A reminder of something different. Beautiful, charming, funny and talented she had of course been destined for Potter all along. Married right out of school, a Quidditch career in the making and then a baby. Their happiness had shone mockingly at him from every wizarding paper. Then when he'd moved to the Muggle side he'd lost most contact with the wizarding news. He hadn't even known she was divorced. _Which doesn't make a damn bit of difference, Malfoy. She'd rather date a hippogriff than look at you_. And who could blame her? He knew what he'd been. Saw his son suffer for it every single day of his life. He'd moved him from the wizarding world to spare him the pain at least during summer but the boy was a wizard. He had to go to a magic school. There was nothing a worried dad could do for his son when he was hundreds of miles away at the mercy of the self-righteous victorious in the war. Nothing he could do about the children of his former so-called friends who shunned their housemate. Yet he could sit and pretend to be the best father in the world when Ginevra Weasley asked him for advice.

"Hey, dad, what's for dinner? Can we have pizza? Man, I'm starving. I could eat a whole…" His voice grew muffled as he stuck his head in the fridge and Draco smiled. Well, he did okay as a dad, if not exactly in a conventional way.

"We had pizza yesterday."

"So? You can never have too much pizza. Unless, of course, you're counting your calories, keeping fit for when sexy Ministry workers come to knock on our door." Draco arched an eyebrow as Score's laughing face reappeared from behind the fridge door.

"What do you know about sexy, midget, you're barely in your teens."

"Lots. I do a lot of research into what's sexy." His dark eyes twinkled, the same eyes his wife had looked at him with cold disappointment in. Yet in another's face they were warm and humorous. Sometimes it made him wonder if he'd ever seen Astoria really happy. He didn't think so, not after having proof of how those eyes did look when they were laughing.

"Research, is it?"

"Certainly, it's all in the name of science. Did you really go to school with her?" Score brought out the soda, poured a glass as Draco marveled, as he always did, how alike they were growing. His son was a real life copy of himself at the same age, save for his coloring - that was all Astoria's. He could remember seeing that face in the mirror, yet they were so different. As a teenager he'd been a little prick, quite frankly, and the most popular Slytherin since Tom Riddle. His son was rejected by all in his house but was funny and generous.

Sure, he could manipulate with the best of them and was proud and clever, a combination that placed him in Slytherin in the first place, but he seemed so out of place when Draco thought back to what he had been himself. There was no inherent meanness in Score, no sense of always having been wronged, no need to strike out at others. Maybe it was as simple as upbringing. Every step his own father had taken had added another layer to him, layers it had taken years to rip off, a painful process he had gone through to make sure Score would never have to become what he had been. Score would never have to feel unwanted or as if he didn't measure up. That he meant less as a person than as a vessel to be filled. Never would Score have to hear his dad say, "Malfoys do not" or "A Malfoy always". Those words had been his undoing. He'd tried so desperately hard to make his dad proud of him and always felt as if he'd failed. His son knew he would always be proud of him, would always love him.

"Well?" Realizing Score was waiting for an answer where he was sitting on the counter (he hadn't been allowed in the kitchens of Malfoy Manor but he was sure that if he had, he would have been told Malfoys don't sit on counters). As always glad to see his son do something his own father would hate he replied,

"I did. She was a year behind. In Gryffindor."

"Oh, don't tell me…It's her, isn't it? The one you had a crush on at school?" In the name of honesty Draco had told his son as much when he'd come home over Christmas brokenhearted because Marcia Prentiss didn't even look at him. To be honest he wasn't true he'd term what he'd felt something as pure as a teenage crush. He had wanted her, on several levels. Physically, because she had been gorgeous and he had been a teenage boy. Mentally, because she was funny and spirited. He had yearned for the forgiveness he had imagined she could give. And he'd wanted her simply because she represented something he could never be or have. That, tangled with rampaging hormones and a war raging outside had made sure it was never as simple as an unresolved crush.

"Yeah."

"Was she as pretty at school?"

"Sure. She hasn't changed much."

"You didn't stand a chance, did you?" Draco couldn't help laughing at Score's pitying tone.

"No, I suppose I didn't. Prettiest girl at school and absolutely off limits."

"You could ask her out now. I didn't see a ring."

"Well, aren't you the ever-observant, Sherlock."

"Like you didn't notice." Draco chuckled and shrugged, crossing his legs at the ankle under the table.

"I might have. Unfortunately, this woman knew me at my very worst. She probably still sees me as the horrid little git who tormented her brother, her future sister-in-law and future husband." Score swung his legs down to dangle over the edge of the counter.

"Whoa. That's a few."  
"Well, I really did try my best to have them hate me." And he'd enjoyed it too. Being older and wiser he knew he'd been fuelled mainly by desperate jealousy but thinking back he still thought those three had been annoying. That holier-than-thou attitude and Potter's constant refusal to let other people help. He didn't care if it was self-sacrificing, to him it just sounded plain stupid. But they hadn't really deserved all he had thrown their way. And thanks to Potter's ridiculous personality he was still alive, alive to see his son grow up. He could forgive the man for being annoying for that gift.

"Well, she probably would have said no anyway, seeing that ugly mug."

"I'll agree with you there since we have pretty much the same face." Score laughed and slid off the counter.

"So, where did we settle on the whole pizza thing?"

A/N: Okay, this is something that's been kicking around on my computer for a while so I thought I'd polish up the first few chapters and see if anyone likes it. If you do, please tell me so I can start work on the later ones. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Welcome back and a special thanks to my lovely reviewers, Just Silence, Pizziagirl, Black Rose 851, arielgenevieve, Nutmeg 44, whatisfake and hatebelow. You made my week, guys!

Ginny couldn't believe it. After she had come home that day she had sat James down and told him it was just the two of them and however sorry she was she couldn't be both his father and his mother they were going to have to make do. Had to help each other. He was the man of the house and they were going to have to work as a team.

She'd been honest for once, told him how sad it had made her to see Harry's benevolent neglect, how she had wished his dad could be there more often. How she couldn't handle being only his support without getting any in return. At the end of it they had both shed some tears and for the first time in longer than Ginny wanted to remember, her son had given her a hug.

There were still issues to be worked out but on the whole the atmosphere in their house was miles better. James even smiled at her now. And all because she had taken the first shaky step towards letting her little boy become a man.

Knowing what had helped the most she returned to the beautiful townhouse with the private garden, a potted rose from her mother's garden in her hands. As he answered her knock she almost dropped the pot. He was still as gorgeous as she remembered, if not more so, with his hair untidy, his shirtsleeves rolled up and a plain white apron around his waist.

"I-ah…"

"Ms. Weasley, come in." She stepped in and caught the scent of something marvelous in the air. "We're making hamburgers, would you like to join us?" Hamburgers? She tried to picture the Draco Malfoy she'd known making hamburgers and her imagination fell short.

"Oh, no, thank you. I don't want to impose. I'm sorry to disturb you unannounced but I just wanted to give you this, as thanks for your help." She held out the pot and he accepted it.

"It's a prize specimen, Ms. Weasley, I'm not sure I deserve all that."

"Oh, no, it's not much. It's from my mum's garden, and I thought it might look nice here. I noticed you have some other kinds out back." She fiddled with her fingers, suddenly feeling stupid. Why had she brought the man a plant he had to put in himself? She could have just written a card. Or bought wine.

"Well, I've heard of Mrs. Weasley's roses. In fact I believe my own mother was rather jealous of them." Ginny couldn't imagine the aloof society lady ever being jealous of her own mother and it warmed her heart to hear it.

"As I said, it's not much but thank you for listening to me. And for giving me sound advice. It's easier to go home now that I don't have to fight a war every time I'm there."

"I'm glad then, Ms. Weasley."

"Did you get lost on your way back from the hall then, dad? Is senility setting in?" Scorpius' teasing tone travelled from the kitchen and Ginny smiled.

"Are you sure, Ms. Weasley? We make a fair burger and it's not often we get to entertain?"

"I…" There was really nowhere she had to be. James was at Teddy's, his outmost idol's house and wasn't coming back until the morning. All she had planned at home was a glass of wine with a microwave dinner and a TV movie.

"It's really no bother, we always make too much." As her mum had taught her it was impolite to refuse a sincere invitation more than once without reason she nodded.

"Thank you then, I would love a hamburger. But only if you stop calling me Ms. Weasley."

"Very well, Ginny. And it's Draco." She couldn't believe he actually remembered her name after all these years.

He brought her into the kitchen and for a second she was vaguely reminded of the Burrow. Not because of how it looked, this kitchen was spacious, with shiny surfaces and snazzy appliances. But the lighting was warm, the air smelled of cooking and music was playing, all things spelling home to her. Scorpius Malfoy was elbow deep in mince as he nodded in time with the music.

"Heads up, lady in the house." Scorpius looked up and she wondered if this was how adorable Draco Malfoy would have looked as a boy if he hadn't had a big stick up his butt for most of it.

"Ms. Weasley, it's nice to see you again." Something unreadable passed between father and son that she couldn't understand but she was impressed both by his manners and his memory.

"Ginny, is fine. Can I do anything to help?" Soon she was seated at the kitchen island, mincing lettuce and tomatoes, a glass of very nice white wine at her elbow, suddenly included in the nice picture. The music was still playing as Malf…Draco was turning burgers on the stove and Scorpius made something he termed "secret salsa". They were in the middle of a conversation about Quidditch and she was enjoying herself immensely.

"I'm right, aren't I, dad?" It warmed her heart to see the absolute trust Score had his dad would know the answer. She decided that even if Malfoy were to be wrong she wouldn't want to break that trust.

"Afraid not, young padwan. Ginny's right, and you've seen it in action, too. Remember when we went to see the Falcons last June? And I explained why the whistle was blown?" She didn't know what a padwan was but she could easily hear the affection in the term.

"Right, so _that's_ when you apply that rule!"

"You know, you can take Ginny's word for anything Quidditch-related. She's played for both Gryffindor and the Cannons." No one had brought up her short Quidditch career in years. She'd just started out when she had gotten pregnant and had to drop put of the team. The two years that had passed between quitting and taking care of baby James had changed her, she didn't really want to play professionally anymore. She'd still always love the game but as a mother she felt uncomfortable doing something so risky for a living.

"The _Chudley Cannons_?" Score's eyes were round. Her son had never been particularly impressed by her short Quidditch stardom, it was a small star compared to he supernova of fame that was his dad.

"Only one season-"

"-Which the Cannons won-" Draco interjected.

"-before I had my son."

"Do you miss it?"

"I still play with my family, but I don't miss playing it professionally. It takes some of the fun out of it."

"We play sometimes, if you get up really early and set up wards and invisibility spells in the park you can play without the Muggles seeing you." She saw Draco's face take a humorously innocent look over at the stove. He was probably well aware that was against regulations.

"Hmm." She decided to let it pass. It wasn't as if they were endangering anyone. "I bet it's a nice place to play."

"You could come sometime, and play with us." Suddenly his face was as innocent as his dad's and she wondered what mysterious game they were playing between them.

"Maybe. Your dad's not half-bad from what I remember." Which was true. Playing against Harry, the best Seeker in 250 years of Hogwarts history, probably wasn't the best measure of talent. As far as she could remember Draco had been a very talented Seeker, maybe even on level with Charlie. And he wouldn't have had to be, she recalled, as his dad had literally bought his place on the team.

"Why thank you ever so much, Weasley," he said drily and she knew from his tone he was more flattered than he let on.

"You're very welcome, indeed, Malfoy." She mimicked his tone and Score sniggered.

o.O.o

The burgers had been delicious and after Draco had reminded Scorpius it was his turn to do the dishes and topped up her wine they had gone to sit in the comfortable living room. The couches were very much man couches, she thought, all big and squishy. He waved his wand and a small fire lit in the fireplace, cheerily crackling away. There was a humongous TV that she thought James might faint of jealousy if he ever saw, along with a collection of DVDs and videogames that could probably rival all of her brothers' put together. There were more books, and on top of the mantelpiece, a recent shot of father and son.

Curled up on the couch, Ginny was again surprised by how at home she felt. They chatted about several of the movies she spotted on the shelf that she had seen, about books and the garden outside. When she ran out of inconsequentialities Ginny felt compelled to ask,

"Why did you move to the Muggle side?" He shifted in his seat and she saw his eyes seemed to pale in color, get flatter. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked. It's just you've never seemed the type…"

"Cause I'm a pureblood, you mean." He got up and stared out the window, into the darkened garden. "I didn't do it for me."

Gently he touched the rim of his wine glass, wiping at an invisible smudge. "I know it must seem like it would be…easier for me to live here. Where nobody knows me, or rather of me. Don't know I betrayed my school and everyone in it, and then betrayed the cause I'd done it all for in the first place. I know this. I know my part and my guilt. I don't like knowing it but I can live with it. But I moved here so Score could have at least three months of the year without being looked at like he's scum. He has no friends at Hogwarts. Because of me. What I did when I was _sixteen_. The sons of the Dark siders think he's the son of a traitor and the Light siders think he's the son of a Death Eater." She couldn't imagine it. That sweet boy, who was funny, talkative and obviously intelligent, had no friends? She felt ashamed on behalf of her friends' children.

"Why would they think that? He's a great kid, anyone can see it." She saw a quick grateful glint in Draco's eyes as he turned.

"I know it and I try to make sure he knows it. But it's hard to let him go to school every year, knowing he's miserable there. He tries to pretend he's not but I…I just don't know what to do about it." Ginny didn't either. She'd never been on the outside of popularity. It had been easy enough for her, people had always been drawn to her, followed her. When she'd become Luna's friend it was at no risk to her popularity since she was at the top of the food chain in Gryffindor. It was hard for her to realize that her son was one of the people who were not standing up for a boy who had done nothing to offend.

"Oh…I was going to ask you and Score to come to dinner at mine to repay you…but I see now that might be awkward. For Scorpius. James is in the same year at school." It now occurred to her that though Score in all likelihood knew who her son was he hadn't mentioned him once. "I mean the invitation stands, but you'll have to ask him. If he doesn't want to, I completely understand."

As she left it was with a heavy heart, a strange endnote to what had been one of the nicest evenings she'd had in a long time.

o.O.o

He dreamt of her that night. He was back. It was sixth year, he could tell because of the distance his eyes were from the ground. He'd been short until fifth year. If that hadn't told him, the sense of dread in rolling in his stomach would. Panicked fear twisted in his guts, mixing with a cold-sweaty sense of glee. Desperately afraid for his parents he'd felt as if he were a head shorter that whole year, not measuring up, knowing whole-heartedly, with the hopeless certainty of the condemned, that he was too young to deal with it. His parents' lives were in his hands. The two pillars meant to hold up his last year as a child had been torn down, felled and cracked with only him to save the pieces. And as little as he could carry a block of marble singlehandedly could he be sure to help them.

At the same time he finally had a chance to win. To be someone. His father would look at him with pride. The strings he always attached to his praise would snap and his approval be given freely once he'd proven himself. _Malfoys do not falter_. His father's cold voice was in his head, just as the high-pitched, whispery sound of pure evil was. He could never forget it. Just as he could never get rid of the touch of his long-fingered, spidery hands on his shoulder. The grip had been soft but he'd known what they were, what they could do and had felt like a tiny bird trapped in a cage made by those hands. A cage where the walls were steadily and cruelly closing in.

Then he'd realized he was in the Great Hall, habit making sure he reached it for breakfast. Not that he ate much anymore, but he had to keep up pretenses of enjoying this so called "honour". That's what his aunt had called it, her voice greasy with false affection as she simpered about hos great he would do, how proud he'd make his family. "_Malfoys do not show weakness_." So he would pretend to eat. Pretend his life hadn't been irrevocably ruined long before he was even born, on the day his father had accepted the Mark.

He sat and began pushing scrambled eggs around his plate to make it seem like he'd eaten some of them. Pansy sidled up and as always her perfume made his stomach shudder. It was too sweet, always made him think of what the overpowering fume hid. It seemed like something was rotting underneath. Perhaps Pansy's personality, which had been dead a long time. He almost smirked at the thought. True to her pug-faced appearance she followed any dominant personality like a dog, at the cost of her own.

"Draco," she breathed in what he imagined she thought was breathy sexiness. She sounded like an asthmatic long-distance runner on helium to him. After his curt nod that she was allowed to sit next to him he tuned her yapping voice out, focused on what he'd have to do during the day. High on the list was to lose Crabbe and Goyle, not a difficult task but sometimes time-consuming. And then he had to…

She walked in and as always he lost his train of thought. It was as if all sunlight in the Hall was centered on her, illuminating the face that always caught him off guard. The elfin-like heart shape of it, the porcelain skin that shone from within, the winged eyebrows, the slightly pointed chin. He'd dissected very feature of it to discover the source of the fascination. Yet, he couldn't place what it was. It could be those wide eyes, the irises the colour of melted chocolate and warm brandy. Or the fact that her hair tumbled like a stream of melted gold on fire down her back and around her face, drawing your eyes to her even when she was in the middle of a crowd. It could be the slight curve to her lips that made her always look like she was enjoying a private joke and was unapologetically sexy. Whatever it was it haunted him, made him able to recall every feature of it perfectly. Just as he could with her body. The girl had escaped the unfortunate gangly gene running in her family, leaving her short enough to probably fit neatly right under his chin, with well-proportioned limbs and long legs. The curves softened what would otherwise have been an athletic build and were generous enough to drive a man to distraction yet didn't make her look bigger than she was. Being somewhat fortunate in his looks as well he knew better than most that it was just a matter of luck (not breeding, whatever antiquated ideas his dad had on the matter) but with Ginevra Weasley there seemed to be something more, something vibrant and alive under her skin. Like a note humming below what noises a human could actually hear there seemed to be more than just her looks that drew him in. And for the life of him he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

She moved with a lithe grace that earned her serious skills as a Chaser and she was laughing at something that tool Dean Thomas was saying. For an instant he yearned to be the one whose hand she was holding as she led him to the table while the sun teased sparks in her hair and his words woke a similar glitter in her eyes. Then he pushed the thought away. He could never have her. Didn't want to have her. It was just physical. The girl was a looker, the whole of Hogwarts thought so. It was normal to think about wanting her. _Yes, but not about wanting to make her laugh_…his inner voice was snide and cold and though he knew it was his own voice it reminded him more of his father than himself. He shook to rid himself of the unpleasant feeling of never having lived a single day of his life as himself, only as his father's son, a Malfoy and basically a puppet whose strings were held by his father, tradition and his name.

_Besides_, he forced himself to finish the thought, just to prove he could deal with his feelings, no matter how distasteful, _she would never want you_. She wants goody-two-shoes, self-sacrificing idiots who fit the part of King of Gryffindor. She'd never want someone who...well, someone like him. Someone who didn't even know who they really were. But increasingly lately he'd been feeling that if he found out who he really was, he wouldn't like it very much.

_It doesn't matter! __**She**__ doesn't matter!_ With an ill-tempered scowl he stood, tearing his eyes from her and pointedly staring ahead as he walked out.

o.O.o

Draco woke covered in cold sweat. Sitting up in his bed he looked around. It was his room, he was back in his life. The time he'd served as a ventriloquist's doll was over. The room held no heavy bottle green drapes shutting him in, there were no priceless antiquities that he wasn't allowed to touch and the walls weren't covered in portraits of older generations of Malfoys that had frightened him senseless as a child but his father had refused to move from his room. Because Malfoys weren't afraid.

This room was airy and comfortable. The furniture was eclectic and a little worn, the large bed was left in the open, no hangings keeping him in. The pictures were the ones he'd taken himself. Some of Score, some of places he had been. The only reminders of the past were a picture of him and Blaise, the only Slytherin he was still in touch with, and a small sketch Snape had once drawn. It was all his, his things, his life, his house and in it he could live as _he_ pleased.

Though he hated the knowledge that his past scared him as much as any nightmare it made him content to realize he'd freed himself of it, had crawled out of the hole of predestination and broken the heavy chains of tradition, the chokehold of expectation. And through it all he'd learnt a very good lesson in how _not_ to raise a child. Perhaps that was something for him to thank his father for. With a snort he got out of bed. Glancing at the clock he saw it was a little past three in the morning. He could conjure a glass of water but the remnants of the dream clung to him and to the sheets so he padded softly downstairs to give the memories a chance to die down before he went back to sleep.

The kitchen was cool and the summer night looked more like dusk than night. The smell of the jasmine in the garden wafted through a cracked window and Draco felt peace began to settle within him again.

"Hey."

"Merlin!" Draco whirled around and for a split second he thought he was back in the dream before he realized that the face was not his but his son's.

"Did you think I was a ghost?"

"In a manner of speaking." The ghost of himself. Of what he had once been only a ghost remained. It had his shape and outline but there was no substance to it anymore. The Draco Malfoy from Hogwarts had died a long time ago and turned into a ghost that only reared its head when he was at his most vulnerable, in his sleep. "What are you doing up?"

Scorpius leaned on the kitchen island, scrawny and pale in sweatpants already too short at the hem and an oversized t-shirt with the logo of his favourite band on the chest.

"My guild needed me. They're mostly American so it's hard to match up the time zones. We slayed a dragon. Looked like a Swedish Shortsnout but it was a lot harder to kill than we thought. It took three tries but Will figured out that if you spam the…" Draco was grateful enough that Score at least had some friends online, or whatever it was called, to not mind the weird hours it made him keep. At least there were some people his son could talk to out there, even if it was at three in the morning. "What about you. Why are you up? It's way past your nine o'clock bedtime."

"Funny." Draco leaned against the counter and sipped his water. "Just a dream."

"Oh." The reply was casual enough but Draco saw the sidelong glance of concern he received as well.

"Not that kind, Score." There were worse nightmares than remembering who he had once been. He sometimes dreamt of what had gone on in Malfoy Manor during what should have been his seventh year. The screams, the terror, the disgustingly dirty side of defending a twisted ideology that no one wanted to remember afterwards. What he'd seen in there, what he'd been made to do, would never leave him. It had left as black and dead of a scar as the Dark Mark he bore.

His parents had in a seldom seen surge of parental concern shielded him from some of it. But some wasn't all and the rest had been plenty to feed the growing seeds of self-repulsion he'd carried inside. In the end, once it was all over, he'd had to rebuild himself from the ground up, his way. It was the only why he could ever deal with having been a part, however passive, of what had passed in that final year of the War. Still, dealing didn't mean forgetting and he assumed the rest of the wizarding world felt the same, as they seemed happy enough to eschew his son for the sins of his father. No one was forgetting. "I dreamt of my Hogwarts days…But it wasn't all unpleasant." And it was true. Though he'd hated the thoughts at the time, the ones he'd had about Ginevra Weasley, they were probably among the nicest ones he'd had in his seven years of school.

"You dreamt about her, didn't you?" The teasing note was absent in his Score's voice and it worried him.

"I did. I used to think about her a lot back then, it's only normal she'd be in it when I dream of my time at school." Scorpius looked away, his dark eyes fastened on the blooming jasmine.

"Why didn't you ask me?"

"Ask you what?" Normally he could easily follow his son's train of thought but he was stumped at this one.

"I heard you, in the living room. She asked us to dinner. She said that you should ask me if I wanted to go. Why didn't you ask me?" Draco put the glass down. He had to tread carefully. He didn't think Scorpius knew just how well aware he was that his son had no friends. How guilty he felt about it. It was too heavy a burden for a child to bear.

"I just figured since her son is in Gryffindor you might not want to go and be forced to hang out with him."

"You're lying to me. We said we'd never lie." Draco ran his hand through his hair as his heart bled when the pride that refused to let his son back down from a challenge, took control. The same pride that had him square his shoulders and jut his chin when he boarded the school train for another year of writing made-up letters about friends that didn't exist and outings and adventures he was never part of.

"I wasn't lying. I was trying to phrase something awkward in a way that would…make it less awkward. I know that you don't have…that you aren't exactly popular at school. And I know it's because of me. I know you won't tell me because you think I'll blame myself for it. And I didn't tell you I knew because I figured that if we pretended, then it would make it easier for you. Score," he waited until his son met his eyes, the tired look in his son's scaring him more than he could ever admit. He was just as powerless to help with it as he had been as a teenager to steer his fate. "I _know_. And I will blame myself for it, no matter what you think. Because it's true. You would never have to deal with this if I had…If I had been different. Stronger. Smarter. Hell, maybe even if I'd been dumber, I'd've just gone for broke and joined the Order. But I didn't and I have to live with that. It pains me that you have to too."

"I don't blame you, dad. You were just a kid. I just…I know how much you wanted to say yes and see Ms. Wea…Ginny again. But you didn't even ask because you thought it'd make me unhappy." For the first time in a long time Score's bottom lip trembled.

"Well, yes. I'd never do anything to hurt you. Sure, seeing someone I had a crush on in school was nice but I don't-"

"You're lying again. Do you think I can't see it? You're punishing yourself by saying no. Do you think I can't see the way you look at her? You want to see her again and you're not even going to try because you want to be as unhappy as you think I am! Want to punish yourself, or whatever. Well, I don't need a martyr. Just as badly as you want me to be happy, I want you to be. So save this self-sacrificing crap and call her." Scorpius had crossed his arms over his chest and was staring back out the window. Draco blinked. The light had brightened outside and the morning seemed to have brought cold with it. Harsh, biting cold. With a deep breath Draco soothed the twisting, burning metal coils that always wound tight in his abdomen when his son cried. It made him want to lash out, kick and hit until whatever hurt him was bleeding and dead.

"When did you get so smart?" Scorpius blinked away the unshed tears and managed a laugh.

"I've always been smart. I take after my dad."

"Come here, you smartass." As he hugged his son, Draco wondered when he'd managed to do something to make the universe think he deserved Score. He sure as hell didn't know.

A/N: Thank you very much for your nice reviews, it always makes my day to get one! I'm really glad you like it and I hope you keep reading and enjoying.


	3. Chapter 3

"Mum, will you stop fussing?" James asked exasperatedly as she adjusted the table setting slightly for the thirtieth time. She had rushed around since lunchtime to get everything ready. She'd hoovered, dusted and scrubbed the floor within an inch of its life, made dinner preparations before rushing into the shower and then spent half a lifetime picking out what to wear.

The deep blue dress had seemed a good choice at the time, not too fancy but with enough fuss to not seem to be something you lounged about the house in. She didn't think it had ever been out of the closet. It had been an impulse buy from the last time she'd gone shopping with Hermione who had pushed it on her and told her it was gorgeous with her hair. She'd tried to tame it a bit for the evening, brushed it back and pinned it, but stubborn tendrils refusing to stay in place fell around her face. She rarely bothered with make-up but had dusted her pale skin with some blush and put on some mascara.

Then she'd rushed to set the table and finish dinner preparations. Now she was just nervously padding around, fussing with things, picking them up and putting them down in the wrong place. She was behaving as if this was a date and she knew it was ridiculous. She and Draco were…tentative friends. At best. She'd met him twice since Hogwarts now and though she could vouch for that he'd changed a lot she was still surprised by how immediate, how violent the attraction had been. Had it always been there?

Thinking back to her school days she had to admit she'd been more than a little attracted to the boy he had been. Mostly because of his looks, which she was reminded by his son had been impressive. Almost like a butterfly he'd shed the short, pointy faced and skinny cocoon to emerge tall, lithe and with a face that struck somewhere between archangel and a rogue prince. There was something definitely timeless to the elegance of the bone structure, the high cheekbones and deep hollows of his cheeks, the strong shape of the hood of his eye and the sharp line of jaw. Recalling it, she was sure it would have made an eighteenth century lady's heart flutter as surely as it did any schoolgirl's. She could remember being vaguely annoyed by it, bothered that someone as petty could possess a face more suited to the front of a novel or an old painting. Bothered that he made her heart stutter, purely from hormones, of course. Infuriated he had perfect lips, saved from femininity by their set, and wasted in a face that used them only to sneer. Even if it had been a hell of a sexy sneer. Annoyed that he had eyes that were an impossibly dark shade of grey for his complexion and because they seemed to have hidden depths behind them. The depths any woman would be tempted to do anything to fathom, to be allowed the privilege of knowing the pain they were all sure would be there. There was nothing as effective on the female hormones as a perceived wound hidden by a bad boy attitude. But she had managed to ignore all of it because he had been a little git to her friends. That defence had gone up in flames as she'd seen the care and love he held for his son, for the home he had created for him, for the easy relationship that could only come from him being a great dad. Ginny knew her attraction was climbing unknown heights at record speed yet she couldn't make herself slow down. Not only because of James, or because she had just gotten divorced but because she had no idea if he felt even remotely the same way. _So hold your horses, Weasley and just enjoy having a friend over for dinner_.

In any case, both their sons would be there, it could hardly classify as a date. Not that she wanted it to be. It was _just dinner_, she repeated to herself.

"I'm not fussing." She _heard_ him roll his eyes at her behind her back. "And you remember what I told you? _Be nice_. Mr. Malfoy may have been a prat at school but he was _not_ a Death Eater, not for real, even you dad says so, and his son deserves to be treated better, no matter what his dad may or may not have done."

"Yes, mum, you've told me a hundred times. I've never spoken to the guy." No, Ginny thought sadly, the problem was that neither had anybody else.

"And no escaping up to your room on your own. It's supposed to be a nice dinner where we all sit and-"

"Ye-es, mum. Why is this so important, anyway?"

"Well, I had a lovely time when they had me over and I just want everything to be as nice for them here." James gave her a sharp look but nodded.

"Fine." He left her to her fussing and trudged upstairs. She'd only managed to bring him down to lecture him on his behavior because he had wanted a soft drink from the fridge but he had come down and he had stayed for almost all she had to say. Baby steps, she reminded herself, was the way forward.

Not five minutes later, the bell rang and Ginny rushed out to the mirror in the hall. Hair was in place…-ish, dress still stain-free and her make-up hadn't smudged. Then she realized she'd forgotten to put on shoes. She'd decided to pick them after the last dinner preparations was done as she could only choose between high heels, which felt ridiculous wearing around the house, or her everyday shoes, which looked funny with a dress. And now both pairs were upstairs and she was barefoot. The bell rang again and with a frustrated sigh Ginny went to the door.

"James, they're here," she called and opened.

"Hi, welcome." She stepped back to let them in and felt her mouth go dry as Draco stepped in wearing a light grey sweater of what could only be cashmere, and jeans. The man was criminally gorgeous. He should be made to get a permit or something. His eyes widened slightly when he saw her and she hoped it wasn't because she looked ridiculous in a dress, with bare feet, staring at him like he was a priceless piece of art.

"Er, here." Score interrupted the silence and handed her a beautiful bouquet of flowers. "Thanks for having us."

"It's my pleasure. These are wonderful." She heard heavy steps come downstairs and turned to James. He stood at the bottom of the steps, looking sullen, with both his hands stuffed in his pockets. He couldn't look more different from Score if he tried. He was wearing worn jeans ripped at the knee, a black t-shirt with a band name on it and his hair was a mess. Scorpius stood in pristine jeans and a white Oxford shirt, his hair tidily brushed. He was just looking at James, his eyes cool. The moment was stretching and Ginny tried to think of something, anything to say as the tension built. She wished her son would at least introduce himself to the other boy, or at the very least acknowledge their presence.

"You must be James. I'm Draco." Draco held out his hand, nothing in his voice betraying he was greeting a thirteen year old boy and not an adult. Slightly shocked, James shook his hand before he could regain his sullenness and stuff his hands in his pockets again, Draco continued.

"I hear you're playing Wicked." Draco leaned on the banister, all graceful ease as

he nodded towards the room upstairs where music was pounding. "They're good, but they're nothing compared to when they had their original base player. I saw them in the Leaky Cauldron before they made it big." James' eyes widened and the smile escaped him before he could help it. She could have kissed Draco.

"Yeah?"

"Sure, that's when they were still called Patronus. What else have you got up there?" James started rattling names as he led Draco and Score upstairs and she almost wept with gratitude. Not only did Draco deem what her son listened to music, but he knew something about it as well. He returned ten minutes later, reporting the two boys had found a mutual taste for wizarding rock and video games about stealing cars.

"Thank you. I don't know how I would have handled that situation without you."

"No problem. He's a nice kid, you just have to get past his defences. You remember how it was back then, all adults were against you, didn't understand you, had never been in your position?" She smiled,

"I don't know, I think I might be getting too old to remember. I just feel like…I've become "mum", you know, and I'm nobody outside that role to him. I'm not even sure I remember who I am outside of it. It was nice of you to show him not all of us adults are boring."

"Ah, most of us are. I mean, I might've taken Score to a few concerts but I always wished I was at home, with my slippers on, watching a BBC criminal drama." She laughed but knew he probably fitted in as well at a rock concert as he did in the living room of his beautiful house.

"Would you like a beer? Or wine? I'm making shepherd's pie for dinner."

"My favorite. I'll take a beer, please." Pleased that she'd thought of buying beer she took one out of the fridge. Then paused.

"I think I'll have one as well. I haven't had beer in years." And why not? She liked it. To her it had just been associated with Harry. He drank beer and she drank wine. It was silly, really, as if she couldn't have one if she liked. She made a note to remember to get it again as she got the bottle opener.

"To firsts in a long time, then." Her eyes locked with his and suddenly his words seemed to take on a new meaning. He really did have the most amazing eyes. So dark, so magnetic, pulling her deeper every time she looked. He put his beer down and took a step towards her. She caught his scent, something dark and masculine and felt heady. His sweater looked so soft, she wanted to run her hands over if, feel the soft fabric over hard muscle and…

The two teenagers noisily returned to the kitchen, James loudly exclaiming he was starving to death and would perish if they didn't eat soon. Draco easily picked up his beer and had a long pull at it. She tried to order her features into some semblance of normality as she went to the oven. Merlin, she was more attracted to him than she'd thought. Maybe this dinner had been ill advised.

The rest of it passed in a boisterous manner, James seemingly back to the easy-going boy he had been before the divorce for the evening. He laughed himself silly over Draco's and Score's easy teasing and had something admiring in his eyes as he talked to Draco. She admitted she might wear a similar look herself as the gorgeous man made her son laugh himself senseless. Again she was reminded of the Burrow, the chatter of young mingling with the deep, calm, voice of order. In fact, having grown up with six brothers she had little trouble keeping up in the male-dominated room and she even thought she gained some points with her son.

Then Draco and Score had left, along with an invitation to join them for movie night next Tuesday, which James couldn't wait to go to since he'd heard of the enormous TV.

o.O.o

Knocking on her son's door she heard a muffled "come in" and entered. Trying to stifle the instant "mum" response that came with stale air and excessive amounts of laundry she turned her eyes on him instead, as always feeling a little prick of recognition at how similar he looked to his father. The jet black hair that would forever stick out impossibly, like he just got out of bed and had a hedgehog for a pillow. Reflexively she walked in and smoothed it down.

"Mum!" He batted her hand away as he focused intently on something on the screen of his computer. His eyes were narrowed in concentration, the same way she'd seen Harry's a thousand times as he focused on a difficult spell, the spiky black lashes painting shadows on his high cheekbones. She knew the colour of them was the same golden brown as her own but everything else about them was his. It was his mouth that was clamped tightly as he paid rapt attention to some little numbers that were rolling on the screen. His narrow face, his sinewy wrists and still narrow shoulders. It made it even harder that he wouldn't pay enough attention to his son when he was a copy of himself. It should've reminded Harry of what he never had. Made him try to be there for his son as his father had never been able to be there for him. Instead he was the father of a nation, not his son.

Trying again she laid a hand gently on his shoulder. She felt him tense for a moment, readying to shake her off, but with a small sigh he accepted and just let her hand rest there. It was a small victory but Ginny treasured it.

"How was talking to Score tonight?"

"Mum, I'm busy."

"Can't you pause it?" With a longsuffering sigh, James responded.

"You can't pause games online. They're other people in it."

"Oh. Well, how was it?"

"It was fine, he showed me some cool games and then we had dinner. I think you were there." She decided to ignore the snide tone. At least he was talking to her.

"Games? On the computer? Did he bring them?"

"No, mum, _online_. We might play one next week. I just have to…" Ginny didn't really understand the rest but caught something about levels and catching up before two people could play. What she did understand was that the two boys had plans. Okay, tentative plans, but it was something. Happy, Ginny squeezed his shoulder and backed away.

"He's really nice, you know, Score, I mean."

"Yeah, yeah, can I play now?"

"Yes. I'll just go to bed. And…thank you, for making an effort tonight." She'd gotten almost out into the hall when she heard him reply,

"It was all right." It took someone special, she thought, to make her son deem them all right. Draco Malfoy was special.

Making her way into her bedroom she sat down in front of her vanity, slowly pulling the pins from her hair. It was a long time since she had been interested in anyone. A long time since she had dated. Not since Hogwarts. And here she was, 32 years old, divorced, raising a teenage son, contemplating it. It hadn't come up before since she hadn't really thought of it much. Nothing put a damper on romance like divorce papers. It had been a vague possibility that sometime down the road, when James was older, there would be time for her again.

But after tonight she was sure of one thing. She wanted Draco Malfoy with an intensity that scared her slightly.

She'd always found sex a nice pastime, proof of intimacy and if done right, very relaxing. But there was nothing relaxing about this. Her body seemed wound tight and when he looked at her she thought the air got that loaded quality it had just before lightning struck. She wondered if that was what it would be like, to be with him. Like lightning striking.

Ginny wasn't really sure what to do about it. It was all new, all strange, so she decided to try and take it slow. He might not even feel the same way. There had been that moment in the kitchen but that could have easily been just her imagining things. He'd recovered awfully quickly if things had been as she thought. As she wanted to think they were, she could admit to herself. And why not, Draco Malfoy was an attractive, single man, a devoted father and both intelligent and funny. It wasn't against the law for two single people to try for something new. It would just have to be given time. She felt she was on shaky legs in the dating department and had never been seeing anyone she hadn't been friends with first. This was different. At school they had been as far from friends as two people could be and now they were practically strangers. As she pulled on her nightgown she wondered how different that would make things from what she knew and whether it would be a good kind of different or a bad kind of different.

o.O.o

"How were…Did you…I mean, when you and James were upstairs, did everything go alright?" Draco had managed to keep from asking the question almost until they were home. Mainly because he'd focused on how amazing Ginny had looked in her blue dress with her feet bare and vibrant hair tumbling around her face. But as they reached the front door he couldn't help it anymore. Score shrugged and entered when he held the door open.

"It was fine."

"Fine?" He knew he sounded like a woman probing a man for his opinion on her shoes but couldn't help but prompt him. His son sent him a bemused look over his shoulder.

"Fine. Potter is okay when he's not trying to be funny or pretend he's the frigging master of the universe. I showed him some of the games I play online and he's going to try them out. We might play together, unless he sucks at it." Draco's heart swelled in relief. Maybe they weren't friends but the son of the man he disliked most in the world had at least talked to Score. That was more than could be said for the children of his former "allies".

"Okay. Good. Great."

"I guess. I'm going to go to bed. Night."

"Goodnight." Score trudged up the stairs and restlessly Draco went into the kitchen. He knew that if his son said it had been fine, then it had been fine but he couldn't help worrying all the same. Would Potter Junior realize Score was more than just the son of his father's school nemesis, or would he just add more hurt when summer was forgotten and house rivalries made themselves known again? Annoyed that he couldn't let the matter just play out on its own he opened the fridge and grabbed a beer.

"Got another one of those?" Recognizing the voice Draco smiled and picked up another bottle. Turning and tossing it towards the man in the doorway, who plucked it easily out of the air and leaned his tall form against the doorframe, Draco greeted him.

"Zabini."

"Dray." The former Slytherin was the only person from school Draco was still in contact with though they had never been close when they went to Hogwarts. The friendship had grown more out of a mutual dislike for certain traits of shared among most members of their former house. Neither of them would ever wish to be in another house but found many of their peers to be boring, mindless followers with little imagination. So when they had bumped into each other after graduation a tentative friendship had been started that to equal surprise to both of them had turned them into best friends.

"What brings you here?" Zabini raised one suit clad shoulder in a shrug He wouldn't use both unless he had to. He was the laziest man ever created and only vanity ensured he didn't weigh three hundred pounds from sheer lack of moving. The man didn't stand if he could sit, didn't sit of he could lie down and so on. And thus, true to his nature he sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen island as Draco leaned against the counter.

"We're out of beer at home."

"And you couldn't go to the store on the way home?" Surprisingly enough he put effort into his work and often stayed late at the office. Considering his suit, Draco guessed that's where he had come from.

"I can't Apparate to the store. I can Apparate here and Apparate home." Pointing out Blaise had about a two-minute walk to the store was of little use so Draco didn't. Instead he asked about his friends' wife who was heavily pregnant with their third child.  
"How's Luna?" A huge smile broke out on his friend's face.

"Great. She's convinced it's a boy this time. The girls are thrilled, I think they imagine we're getting some sort of really fancy doll." Blaise and Luna's twin daughters were three years old and an adorable force of destruction. Seeing Blaise's eyes light up as he talked about his family Draco was amazed at the turns fate took.

At school, Blaise had kept to himself a lot and been quiet. Girls had interpreted it as being brooding and mysterious and that, added to his great looks had had them falling over themselves to get to him. Draco hardly thought he'd minded but in 7th year he had suddenly stopped seeing them all as he began dating Luna Lovegood. Or at least, so he'd heard afterwards since he hadn't actually been there himself. According to Blaise he'd just bumped into her one night and she'd been the least predictable person he'd ever met. After that he'd started noticing her around Hogwarts and after a few weeks had managed to accept the fact he had a crush on the "school weirdo". So he'd asked her out and for the first time in his life he had been rejected.

"I don't even know you," she'd replied. "I'm not even sure you know yourself." In the end, to Draco's ever lasting amusement, he had been allowed to come on a search for the elusive Snotnosed Swamplurker. They were nasty creatures that lived in bogs and Draco would have paid a lot of money to see the seventeen year old, snobbish, pedantically neat, Blaise Zabini traipse around a bog, muddy water to his knees and his expensive shoes ruined.

In any case, after it Luna had deemed him worthy of being her friend and later, her boyfriend. And Blaise had found someone who didn't care about his name, his status or his money, in fact, Draco knew, she didn't even care about her husband's looks. He knew Blaise found that a relief, as most people always assumed things about him when they met him. Curling black hair and a flawless coffee-and-cream complexion, paired with tawny eyes and lithe build made his friend look something of a mix between Caribbean pirate and Renaissance poet and women were forever making him up to be things in their heads he could never be. But not the woman he had married, one of the rare people in the world who only cared about the inside of a person.

They lived close by in a house on the Muggle side where Blaise worked as a lawyer while Luna worked as a journalist at her father's paper, the Quibbler. With twin girls and a baby on the way, their happiness seemed complete.

"Glad to hear it." He had a pull of his beer and suddenly Blaise's eyes suddenly narrowed in speculation.

"Where have you been?"

"Out."  
"Where?"

"What are you, my mum? Are you going to ask me who I talked to as well?" Draco crossed his arms over his chest and Blaise adopted a prim tone as he replied,

"I most certainly will, young man." He dropped the act and arched a brow, "Especially since you're wearing your date sweater."

"What?"

"Your date sweater. You only wear it when you want to impress a woman, which is why I've seen it about...twice, in as many years."

"Do you have some sort of anal notebook where you write down what I eat and wear and use night vision binoculars to spy on me when I shower?"

"Yes, of course. If I were you I would regrout your tiles. Once it's too late, damage will be irreparable. I should know, I just sued someone for neglecting to point that out the other day."

"Did you win?"  
"Of course I did, don't try and change the subject. Who is she? Is she hot? Do I know her?" Blaise leaned forward on the stool, angling his head as he smirked at Draco.

"Forget it."

"I am hurt, wounded to my very core by your callousness. Didn't I tell you the other day about how hot Luna is pregnant?"  
"Yes. And I wish you hadn't."

"You're just jealous that I have a blonde goddess of love at home."

"I think I prefer red-heads." Draco said absentmindedly as he fiddled with the corner of the label on his beer.

"Aha! She has red hair, then. Well, that's not too surprising, you've had a thing for red hair since that weird crush you had on the littlest Weasley in school."

"Will you just go bother someone else?"

"No, this is way too much fun. You're actually squirming. I never get to see you squirm. It's fascinating. I may have to call home and say I won't be home tonight. I have to torture you until the facts are in the open. It's my duty as your best friend."

"It's your duty as my best friend to go home and shu-" Score, clad in pajamas and holding an empty glass entered and Blaise's eyes lit up.

"Score! Just the man I wanted to see, the man with the answers! Who is your dad seeing?" His son's eyes darted to him before widening in absolute innocence.

"No one that I know of."

"Do you think I'd buy that look? Your dad was giving me that look long before you were ever born. Like that time he promised my Finn Dougal rookie card had been stolen by a Snotnosed Swamlurker."

"Your wife believed me."

"Bite me. So Score, where were you tonight? You can tell your favorite uncle."

"We had to go to dinner to convince our Magic-Muggle liaison we're normal."

"You have to do that now as well?" Blaise looked appalled. "Our liaison is a fat, balding man who sweats profusely and thinks deodorant is for sissies." The clinically neat Blaise shuddered.

"Sorry, man." Sending Score a grateful look he took another sip of his beer. Blaise was his best friend but he didn't know if he wanted to tell him about Ginny yet. Because there's nothing _to_ tell, he told himself.

"I have to go home and tell Luna the sad news. Last time he came to the house we had to air it for an hour. If he stays for dinner we'll have to fumigate." Score snorted in laughter and Blaise gave him a dark look. "Think it's funny do you? Maybe I'll invite you to the dinner, see how you like it."

"I'm afraid I'm going to be out of town. See you, uncle Blaise." Score retreated upstairs and Blaise turned accusingly towards him.

"He's becoming more like you every day."

"I have nothing to do with it, I swear."

"You both think you're so damned funny." A smile broke out over his features. "Damn Malfoys. Well, I'm off. Thank you for the beer." He steered towards the living room and the floo before turning in the doorway. "Oh, and Dray, don't think for a minute I've forgotten you wore your date sweater to your Magic Muggle liaison dinner. But if you don't want to tell me, I'll wait. Bye, loser." Draco smiled into his now empty kitchen. There was no fooling Blaise. Even when you thought you had the man was two steps ahead.

Putting his now empty beer bottle in the sink he headed up the stairs to got to bed. Hopefully, if he dreamed about Ginny again tonight, it'd be under better circumstances than last time.

A/N: Hi, sorry for the wait, I've really struggled with this chapter, arguing with myself over which bits should be in it and which of them shouldn't. Hopefully, you'll like the finished product. Thanks to everyone who has read so far and a special thanks to my lovely reviewers who always make my week, Nutmeg44, arielgenevieve, Pizziagirl, hatebelow, whatisfake, orangpigeon19, BlackRose851 and Guests.


	4. Chapter 4

In an attempt to look casual Ginny wore jeans and a sweater. If the jeans happened to be her treasured pair that made her butt look smaller and the sweater was one that hinted at a little more cleavage than usual it was purely coincidental. She was going for the "I just threw it on five minutes ago, yet I look amazing" look.

When they arrived, James deemed the house "cool" and the garden "pretty sweet". The TV however was "beyond awesome". The friendship between the two boys seemed to be solidifying as they sat on the floor and munched popcorn, cheering and cat calling as things blew up on the screen. She really wished they'd sit on the couch. As it were, it was just her and Draco and she was so aware of where he was it felt as if she'd put a Tracking Charm on him. Wherever he was, her body seemed to know, feeling a pull behind her navel, similar to travelling with a Portkey, if less violent.

He was just sitting there, watching the movie, smelling divine and looking as good as sin in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. If she'd been in any doubt of his shape it was clear now that he did something. Ran, played sports, whatever. It was all long, slim muscles under that shirt and her hands ached to play over the hard planes.

She had no idea what was going on in the movie. She doubted the plot was very complicated but with him there it was impossible to concentrate. So when James expressed an urgent need for more popcorn she jumped at the chance. Away from him, away from the incessant need to touch him that was attacking her brain like a million little ants. Well in the kitchen she drew a deep breath and leaned her hot forehead against the cool door of the refrigerator. How was she supposed to deal with this? Her son was in there, Merlin help her, and was probably the only thing preventing her from pouncing on Draco.

He shouldn't be allowed to sit all cool and collected, looking immaculate and so damn tasty just a few feet from her. She wanted him to not be able to look away from her. She wanted him to suffer like she was suffering.

Give it up, Ginny, she thought. The man is a walking heartthrob; he must have hundreds of girls lining up. Girls who're better looking, younger, not divorced mothers of teenagers who hadn't had a date in fifteen years. He liked her well enough, she was a friend in the same situation as he was, raising a child on her own. But he didn't have her like a fever in the blood. Didn't feel like kissing her until he was out of air.

"Are you okay?" She snapped her head up.

"Ah, yes. Just warm. I was…looking for a bowl." He leaned on the doorjamb and crossed his arms.

"Cupboard on the right." She opened it and stood on her toes to reach it.

"I can't quite seem to reach…" She could, if she really tried. Or she could get her wand out and summon it. But she heard him cross the room and her heart started beating heavier, slow almost painful beats that she was sure he must be able to hear. She felt the heat of his body as he reached over her, into the cupboard. His chest brushed her back as he leaned in and she felt a shiver run from the tip of her scalp down to her toes. Slowly, he put the bowl down in front of her, both of his hands holding it, with his arms on either side of her, almost like an embrace. Without breaking contact she slowly turned, her eyes downcast. His arms tightened around her and she finally dared to look up. She didn't have time to read the mood in his eyes before his mouth was on hers and everything around them dimmed. Her senses seemed to bring sharply into focus all that he was doing at once; everywhere his body was touching hers, brought into harsh clarity.

With a moan she didn't know she'd been holding back she pressed him closer, feeling the hard planes she'd been fantasizing about meld with her curves. Her hands travelled over the expanse of his back and wound themselves in his beautiful hair. She thought she felt him groan, through the layers of fabric between them that suddenly seemed way too thick. She wanted his skin, she wanted to know what he tasted like, everywhere. She felt his tongue skillfully push against hers and she deepened the kiss. His arms tightened around her waist before he completely lifted her off her feet and turned them around, roughly pushing her up against the wall. She brought her legs up around his waist and pushed with her heels to bring them closer. As she felt his core press against hers, a mewling sound escaped her, a plea for more, anything, just more. From the way her blood was pounding there she could have sworn her heart had traveled south inside her body.

With one arm still supporting her weight his unoccupied hand reached the hemline of her shirt and pushed under it. His hands on her bare skin felt like nothing she had ever experienced as it sent shocks straight from his fingertips to the building pool of desire at her core. It was too much, yet she needed more and her hips rolled helplessly against his. A groan tore out of his throat as he matched her actions and the liquid heat inside her threatened to erupt.

"Mum, where's the popcorn?" James called from the living room. They both froze and Draco gently put her down. Wide-eyed she met his eyes, darker than ever with a desire no one had looked at her with before.

"Merlin," she breathed.

"I'll say," Draco chuckled weakly. Her voice slightly unsteady she called,

"I think we're all out." A chorus of "oh, man!" rang out. She heard the movie credits start to roll, the explosions finally ceasing as she and Draco stood, both breathing heavily.

"Mum, can we watch another one, _please_?" Merlin, she couldn't stay near this man without ripping his clothes off for another five minutes, let alone an hour and a half.

"Next time", she called back, "we're going to have to go." More disappointed sighs resounded and then a lot of shuffling. Quickly Draco pulled at her hand to turn her towards him.

"I was going to wait to ask one more night but it seems…unnecessary now. Will you… go out with me? On a…date?"  
"Yes." The answer was out before her brain had fully caught the question.

"I'll call you."

"Just…we might have to slow down a bit. I have…things to consider." She said just as the Thing in question burst through the door.

"Man, mum, you missed the whole end bit! It was awesome, there was one guy who just swooped in and he planted a bomb and it blew up the White House. It was awesome."

"And when that assassin came in through the window and just slit his throat from behind?" Score added, and her heart lifted. It was so normal. The teenage boy excitement over blood and explosions.  
"That was pretty sweet!" A play by play followed as Draco kept her hand in his, their joined hands hidden behind the kitchen island. She had a hard time concentrating on her son's rendition of a scissor kick when he kept caressing the point in her wrist where her pulse still hammered. In the end she had to rather rudely interrupt her son to remind him to get his jacket but he seemed in too good a mood to mind and the two boys drifted out, talk of explosions along with several sound effects echoing in the hall.

"Can I just say, by the way, that you look beyond awesome tonight?" Ginny laughed at his use of her son's words.

"You can. You look pretty sweet yourself."

"So I'll make you a deal. We'll slow down, but you can't wear those jeans again." Thanks, trusty Levis, she thought.

"Deal. But you can't wear that grey cashmere sweater."

"Fair enough. You've got a deal, Weasley."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Malfoy." She saw his eyes darken again as he opened his mouth to reply. Then the boys were back and with a hurried goodbye she ushered James to the Apparition point.

o.O.o

_Sweet Merlin, Morgana and Circe_! Draco closed the door to his bedroom and leaned against it. If he had ever imagined that moment…and okay, he had, numerous times, it hadn't been close to how it actually felt to kiss Ginevra Weasley, to feel her skin under his hands.

It had been…explosive, violent, like being swept up in a whirling storm, all sense of the now losing importance as you just got pulled along. His son had been in the next room and it hadn't mattered, her son had been in the next room and it hadn't mattered. They had been in his kitchen for heaven's sake and it hadn't mattered. Slowly, he sat down on his bed. He would have to be more careful from now on.

He'd thought the infatuation had died a long time ago but it seemed now like it had only been gaining strength under the surface and the old feelings mixed confusingly with the new. There was still that undeniable ache to touch her which he knew well, the way he couldn't keep his eyes from searching her features for the answer to why they were so compelling to him. Yet there were new ones too. Feelings that had nothing to do with how she looked or who she had been at school. How she struggled to do her best for her son, how her eyes lit when she looked at him, the very same way he looked at his own son. The admiration he felt for her leaving a husband she still loved in many ways to stand on her own. How she worked tirelessly to support her son when all she had to do was whisper and Potter would drown them in galleons. The way she laughed, that full, rich sound and the glimpse of surprise that came a split second before it, like she was surprised to be laughing. He wanted to make her laugh. To make her content, to make her happy. He lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He wanted to make her want the way he wanted her. And maybe, just maybe, she could. He'd always imagined she'd be sweet, gentle but she had matched him step for step, pulling him closer, wanting more. Wild unbridled passion was what he'd tasted in her. It beat sweet any day.

And he'd get the chance to have it again. He couldn't believe it, he was actually going on a date with Ginny. A real, grown-up dinner, just the two of them. Suddenly sweat broke out on his palms. No buffers in the shape of their children, just him and his sad story. Would she still like him if she knew him better? Would she be disgusted if she knew all his truths? Know that he was weak? He rolled over on his side and reprimanded himself. He was not that boy anymore. He was an adult who made his own choices, and good ones too, if his son was any indication. So he'd…He smothered the thoughts. Had she said anything about it? No. She'd known him, well of him, in school and she'd still say yes. _Which only means you have more to prove_, the snide voice in his head added.

There was a knock on the door and Score poked his head in, his hair sticking out on either side, which Draco knew was a sign of him having worn his headphones.

"Hey." Draco sat again to lean his back against the headboard. Score wandered in, disinterestedly picking things up and putting them down again.

"Hey yourself." Slowly he was making his way towards the bed.

"So…" He spoke as he poked at the picture of him and Blaise on the mantle and Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Ye-es?" Smiling at himself for dragging it out, Score turned and blurted, "What happened in the kitchen?"

"I think you may be too young to know." His son whooped and jumped up on the bed.

"Really? Just now? You had sex in the kitchen?" Draco lost all air in his lungs in shock as he was torn between a desperate urge to laugh and be stern.

"Merlin, no! We were in the kitchen for five minutes and you two midgets were in the next room. We kissed, you little pervert." Score fell forward in mock despair. Then he peeked up to look at his dad.

"How was it?"

"R rated. And great. That's all you need to know."

"R rated means tongue and-"

"- it means none of your business." Draco drilled a finger in his ribs and Score laughed and squirmed helplessly.

"I give! I give!" Score rolled away panting from laughter and exhaustion. Draco pushed his hair out of his eyes and leaned back against the headboard again. "So what happened next?"

"We got interrupted by two inconsiderate popcorn-seekers."

"You should have put a sock on the door."

"Ha-ha. Do you need another lesson in manners, there?" He joked and Score rolled away.

"No! Not the tickling of death!" Draco smiled and was glad that was among the worst "punishments" his son ever had to endure. His own father had been less considerate in his choosing.

"But then, we decided that we're going to go out without the hindrance of teenage presence."

"You're going on a date?"

"That we are." Score laughed again and rolled back closer to pat him on the leg.

"Way to go. I can't believe she said yes. Do you think it's out of pity?"

"Aren't you just hilarious today? If you don't watch it I'm bringing your baby pictures to the date. I'll show them around the restaurant."

"No, no, I didn't mean it! Why wouldn't she say yes? I mean we share genes after all!" Score pleaded.

"Oh, now you admit it?"

"Well, when you get dates with hot redheads I can admit we're related. Normally, not so much." Draco laughed and lounged for him.

"Okay, that's it, now you're getting it." His wider reach ensured he could catch Score and with an evil cackle he brought him close, Score already wriggling and laughing.

o.O.o

In the name of their new, honest relationship, Ginny decided it was only fair she told James of her date. It had gone over less than ideal. First he'd just looked uncomprehending.

"A date?"

"Yes. Draco and I are going on a date. On Saturday."

"No." it had just fallen from his lips as his eyes grew wide and Ginny felt like she'd run over a puppy.

"James…"

"No!" Then the betrayal had turned to anger. "No. What about dad?"

"Baby, I've told you, I'll always love your dad but we're not together anymore."

"But he still loves you too. Why can't you just be together?"

"I know it's hard to understand but we're just…not right for each other. We can't give each other what we need." She tried to reach for him but he backed away.

"You mean you. He didn't give you what you wanted. He was happy before you divorced him, he didn't want to go through with it." How could she tell him that Harry had been relieved to get rid of at least one responsibility in his life? How could he know how it had hurt to be married to a man who never looked at her or talked to her, who just needed her silent support to get through the day.

"Yes, James, I mean me. I need more than what he can give me."

"But Dr…Malfoy can give it to you?" James' voice was trembling.

"I don't know! Maybe. We'd like to get to know each other better."

"You said he was a bastard at school! Dad said so too, and now you want to date him?"

"_Language_, James Sirius Potter! He was just a boy! He is a good man now and I want to know him better. That's all."

"You can't! You _can't_ do that to dad!" His voice shook precariously on the high notes.

"James…" Tiredly she sat down at the kitchen table.

"No! I'll hate you for it!" Then he whirled around and left. Seconds later she heard the front door slam. With a deep sigh she laid her head down on the table. She'd thought enough time had passed, that he'd realized his dad wasn't coming back and maybe, just maybe that he would see that their earlier life hadn't been perfect. She'd selfishly hoped that when he saw Draco and Score interact that he'd realize what had been lacking all along.

Maybe she should call Draco. They didn't have to go out so soon. They'd just met. They'd kissed once and…as the memory of it swam back in her head she realized she couldn't wait. Not when she knew what it was like to kiss him. To feel that intense want, the expectation as loaded as a volcano before it erupted, the need for release vibrating in the very air around it. She would either have to never see him again or give in to the want. Reaching for the phone she wondered why she felt so sad to give up a man she'd only met four times. Actually she did know. Not only was she fiercely attracted to him but she actually liked him. Liked the way he interacted with his son. Liked how he took the time to give advice without making you feel small. Liked how he tended his house and his life. Liked how she could see how he'd do anything to make his son happy. With shock she realized he was everything Harry had never managed to be. A real father, a listening ear, a caregiver for a home.

Slowly she put down the phone. She'd talk to James again. If it was still making him unhappy she would have to decline, she knew it. Remembering Draco's words about children blaming themselves for their parent's failings she decided she'd have to approach it differently.

In the end she hadn't had to as James had come back from Teddy's (his place of refuge), his head hanging in shame as his outmost idol had apparently given him a long lecture on thinking of other people and their feelings.

So he'd shuffled in, his head hanging and mumbled,

"Sorry, mum." Hugging him she'd felt his skinny ribcage shake with sobs and her heart broke.

"James, if you really don't want me to, I won't go. Okay?" He'd looked up, his eyes wide in wonder as tears hung from his lashes, spiky with moisture. Then he drew a deep breath.

"No. It's okay. You should go." He wiped his eyes with the back of his arm, a gesture so typical of him that Ginny felt for a moment she had her little boy back. He drew himself up and she got to witness his second shaky step towards manhood. "You should have fun." She felt tears in her own eyes as she watched him.

"Thank you, James, that means a lot to me." Then he surprised her again, suggesting she get a new dress for the date. And made her eyes tear up properly when offered to pay for it with the money his dad sent him.

"Geez, mum, he always sends too much anyway," he'd exclaimed as she hugged his writhing form.

"Thank you. But I'll get myself a new dress." Pressing a kiss to his forehead and brushing back his hair she felt his arms tentatively close around her waist and felt that maybe life would be as perfect as it had once been again.

o.O.o

Instead of letting Harry pay for anything she cut into her savings, a small but steady part of her earnings always went towards it and she thought she'd earned a new dress. And some new underwear. And a haircut.

Surveying the end result she thought she'd done okay. For a 32 year old she was in good shape. Quidditch for fun and traipsing around on Ministry errands kept the voluptuousness she'd inherited from her mother in check and having had James very young her body had changed very little permanently. Her stomach would never be absolutely flat and her thighs would never be considered skinny, for that she loved her mother's cooking too much. But her waist was still small and her body evenly proportioned. Her breasts were no longer 22 but having secretly compared herself with her sisters-in-law she thought they weren't too bad either.

Her skin had always been flawless and tonight she'd take extra care to put on scented body lotion, slowly enjoying herself as she felt her muscles relax. The haircut was good, it made her hair look carelessly styled instead of crazy rat nest and she'd left it the way the hairdresser had blow-dried it earlier.

The dress hugged her in all the right places, falling just past her knees in a river of dark plum silk. What was on underneath was nicer than anything she'd bought in years. Usually it was all cotton and comfort for her, but tonight she wanted something special. Not that he was going to get to see it, as they had decided to take things slow, but she'd know. Know that she looked better than she had in years, all the way down to her skin. Fluffing up her hair and slipping into her heels, slightly scuffed black peep-toe pumps (her money wouldn't stretch quite as far new shoes) she went downstairs.

"You look good, mum." James was sitting on the kitchen counter, munching on cereal straight out of the box.

"Thank you. Now, do you have anything you need? The number to the restaurant, Draco's number, Granny's at home and you've got your-"

"Mum, I'm _thirteen_. I can walk over to Teddy's on my own and I can call if anything happens. I'm not a baby." Teddy lived with his grandmother in a house a few blocks away and was two years older than her son. It calmed her to know that while she viewed it as babysitting, the two boys viewed it as just hanging out. Maybe then he'd behave.

"Okay, okay. But you'll always be my baby." She pressed a kiss on the top of his head and he squirmed. The doorbell rang and to her surprise she saw James bounce up to open the door. At a slower pace she followed, enjoying the sound of Draco's deeper voice mingling with the rushed, excited tones of her son. She joined them in the hall and her heart almost stopped. He was wearing a grey suit, impeccably tailored, with a white shirt and a narrow black tie. Just seeing it made her want to ruffle him up, dishevel him and maybe have him use that tie to bind her wrists to the bed…Blushing furiously, she snapped out of her reverie.

"Mum, can I?"

"Sorry, can you what?"

"Can I bring Teddy over to Score's? Draco says it's okay and we'll _behave_, I promise." She met Draco's eyes over her son's head, something that was rapidly getting harder as he was growing like a weed. He shrugged,

"There's only so much trouble they can get into. Score's just there by himself anyway."

"See mum, he gets to stay home alone."

"Pick your battles, young man." There'd be the three of them and as Draco said there was only so much trouble they could get into. "Okay, you can go, if Draco says it's okay." James whooped.

"Thanks mum!"  
"But no going outside, and use the Floo, and don't-"

"Yes, yes, don't talk to axe murderers and don't get into any fights with gangs unless we're really sure we can take them." He smirked and she was reminded for a second of Scorpius. It looked like the friendship was thriving. He rushed off and Ginny got time to focus on the man in front of her again.

Only now she noticed he was carrying flowers, a bouquet of what looked like big, vibrant daisies.

"Here you go. I saw these in the store and thought of you." It could only be a compliment; the flowers were perfect, colorful and sweet. And she was glad he hadn't chosen roses. It was a predictable first date flower; she preferred it when they meant something. Roses meant love and should be reserved for those you loved.

"Thank you, they're beautiful." He followed her into the kitchen so she could put the flowers in water as they heard the hurried, "bye" before the whoosh of the fireplace signaled her son's departure.

"You look amazing, Ginny." Suddenly the room seemed smaller and her eyes kept tripping and falling into his gaze, getting stuck longer and longer each time.

"Ah…I…Thank you. You too." To distract herself she found a vase and filled it before arranging the flowers in the clear glass vase. She was sorely tempted to suggest they'd skip dinner and stay in, throwing all caution in the wind. But there wasn't just her to consider, she had to be careful with any man she brought into her son's life. Draco was already in it as the father of his friend, she needed to make sure this was really what she wanted. Not just getting him in bed but giving them a shot. When she turned back to face him he'd pulled her into his arms and kissed her senseless, testing her resolve to the very limit.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to…er, do that. It was just going to be a hello."

"Well, he-llo. Phew." He grinned and stepped back, holding his hands up before shoving them in his pockets.

"No more. They'll stay here."

"For now."

"For now," he agreed and the want in his voice made her knees shake.

"I think we better go or I'll forget why it was important to take it slow."

"Right. I guess…" He slowly backed out as she followed.

A/N: Next time, date night! Thank you so much to all of you who've read and special thanks to my lovely reviewers, it always makes me smile to find one of your comments: BlackRose851, a fan, Pizziagirl, Nutmeg44, Just Silence, 1994heidi, Jamie, orangepigeon19, JC and guests! I hope to see you next time/ Sannikex


	5. Chapter 5

A Side-Along Apparition into Muggle London, and a short walk later Ginny found herself in an Italian restaurant. She had expected him to take her somewhere somber and elegant with hushed conversation and snooty waiters.

But this was…chaos, she decided. It was unclear who was a waiter, who was a guest and who was family as everyone mingled, sat down at different tables. Sometimes someone went into the kitchen and brought something back. And when someone wasn't getting their food, they told the kitchen staff as much, yelling to them and receiving mainly rude hand gesturing in return. There was a lot of bustle, babies were passed around to be cooed over, children ran and played under the tables, old men drank grappa and argued in Italian. She had no idea why Draco had brought her here. It seemed like the last place on earth he'd want to be. _You don't know that_, she reminded herself. From what she knew about him now Draco was very different from the boy he had been at Hogwarts. Maybe he liked big, family-owned Italian restaurants now.

A minute after entering, one of the men drinking grappa spotted them, a large man with bushy eyebrows and twinkling eyes.

"_Ah, Draco! Dove sei stato? Io non ti vedo da settimane_!"

"_Ho lavorato. È bello vederti, Marco_."

"_Lavoro, lavoro, non c'è altro nella vita oltre il lavoro. A proposito del quale, chi è questa bella signorina?_"

"_La mia data_."  
"_Davvero? Meraviglioso! Perché non l'hai detto prima?_"

"_Tu non mi hai dato la possibilità di dirti_. Ginny, this is Marco, one of my oldest friends. He owns this place. Marco, this is Ginny Weasley, my date."

"Your restaurant is lovely."

"Not as lovely as you, _sei veramente bella, _signorina Weasley. Maria!" A woman who reminded Ginny in many ways of her mother bustled over, an apron stained with red sauce tied around her full waist.

"_Draco! Caro! Marco, cosa stai facendo solo in piedi qui? Dove sono le buone maniere? A tavola!_"

"_Sì sì, claro_. Come with me, _andiamo_!" He led Ginny and Draco to a table in the back, which was much quieter and only a large man was snoozing in a corner and a young woman reading a novel at a table. "_Spostare! Non vedi che abbiamo ospiti speciali? Luciana, il migliore che abbiamo per l'inglese e la bella signorina!_" The two figures hurried away and left the section calm and quiet. "You relax, enjoy. I bring the best we have. No hurry."

"Sorry if that was a bit intense."

"You've obviously never been to the Burrow. This place reminds me of it."

"It's a nice place." He pulled out her chair for her and Ginny sat.  
"I hope you don't mind me saying that it seems the last place I would ever find you."

"Well, I guess when I was young it wasn't." He sat down opposite her and looked around as if he was seeing it through her eyes.  
"Sorry, I know you're different now, I wasn't trying to say-"

"It's okay. Just don't let my schooldays influence you too much when you think of me. I'm sure you're not the same person you were either."

"What made you change?" He leaned back in his chair as Marco brought in a bottle of wine and a platter of olives, merrily winking at her before he left.

"Do you think I was a Death Eater?" She guessed it was only fair to tell him as much before he told her more of himself.

"No, I wouldn't be here if I did, Draco. I think you were young and horribly afraid. I don't think you had anyone to talk to and you feared for your family. If someone threatened to do to my family what he said he'd do to yours, I don't know what I'd done." She leaned forward. "Actually, that's not true. I would have done anything. So no. I don't think you were really a Death Eater." She popped an olive from the platter in her mouth and continued, "I do think you were an insufferable git at school, though."

"Fairly accurate." His lips twitched as he poured them both of the wine and took a sip. "Well, the way I was raised was always the main issue. I had been made to believe I was the center of the universe since I was a baby. Whatever I wanted I got. Along with high expectations of excellent performances, of course. Nothing is free in the world of Malfoys. I simply wasn't permitted to do badly. I had classes with a private tutor long before Hogwarts started."

"Lessons? What could they want you to learn before Hogwarts?"

"Oh, all kinds of things. To play the piano, to speak several languages, to draw, to duel, to play chess."

"But when did you have time to play, doing all that?"

"I didn't play much. It's not "conducive to timely development", according to my father." She'd known his childhood must've been very different from hers but this was worse than anything she'd imagined.

"_You weren't allowed to play_?"

"I was allowed to socialize under certain set circumstances with my peers to build future relations." And as bad as it sounded, it didn't sound half as bad as the words he was using, obviously in verbatim what he had been told by his father. The words of Lucius Malfoy didn't rest well on the tongue of his son. It was similar to the cold voice she'd heard him use at Hogwarts, except for lacking the admiration for his father that had always been there. It made it sound hollow, dead. She could just hit Lucius Malfoy for teaching his son how to use it.

"It sounds horrid." He chuckled and leaned back, slowly turning his glass by the foot of it.

"I was happy enough. I didn't know things could be different. It wasn't until I came to Hogwarts I realized I was different. I could speak Italian, French and Russian but I didn't have any friends. I could recite _The History of Ministry of Magic and its Leaders_ but I was lost when it came to how to behave around other kids. I could have probably handled it better but looking back I felt like the only choice I had was to get to the top on my terms, the only way I'd been taught how." Her heart ached for the little lost boy he had been.

"I met no resistance, in Slytherin you fight dirty or you get trampled, and I was the best at fighting dirty. I suppose the war was the first wake-up call I ever got. I know it's hard for you to even imagine what we saw in the Dark Lord but you were raised to be as certain he was evil as we had been raised thinking he was some sort of transcended being." She was one of the few people in Gryffindor who actually knew first-hand how persuasive the Dark side could be. She'd been in the Dark Lord's head as much as he had been in hers. It had made her realize there was temptation in it, something Harry had never been bothered by.

"We were convinced we were going to be the masters of the universe. Then I actually met the man. I lost everything I'd believed in that day. How could my father bow to this petty megalomaniac, I wondered, a despot who was the very thing we were supposed to get rid of? But if there was something He knew, it was who was in doubt. So he threatened my family and I was powerless, I couldn't sacrifice them. I don't care if that wasn't the brave thing to do, I would do it again to save them." Ginny nodded, she could understand that. Backed into a corner with the lives of her family in the balance she would have done the same. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Then suddenly the nightmare was over, the war was finished, Lord Voldemort dead. The second-wake up call was then, during the trials when our funds were frozen. Suddenly, for the first time in my life, I had no money. The first job I ever had was here." He gestured with his glass to the walls around them. "In the muggleworld. No one would hire me in the wizarding world. The Montrellis took me on as a waiter since I spoke Italian and I think my entitled attitude lasted about a week under Maria's dictatorship. Our funds were released again but I stayed here. Here I wasn't a traitor or an excommunicate, I was just Draco Malfoy, a young man who'd in some way had fallen on hard times and therefore was welcomed with open arms into this large Italian family. And I liked him better than the old me. So I stayed, I even worked as a chef for a while. Marco taught me how to cook when he realized I didn't even know how to boil an egg. I'd never had to."

"You were a chef?"

"Cooking is just Potions made tastier." He shrugged. "I had a setback when I met Daphne again. She was a reminder of how carefree life had used to be. When I could do anything to anyone and answer to no one. Before I knew it we'd married on some kind of youthful, impulsive high and Score came along…"His eyes softened. "I had no bloody idea what I was doing. I held him and I was so scared. He was so tiny, so soft. I swore then that whatever my parents had made of me, I wouldn't make of him. So I dragged Daphne, kicking and screaming, to the Muggle world as well, sold Malfoy Manor and used the money to buy that house for them. At the beginning Daphne liked it, playing house and looking beautiful and serene with a baby on her arm. But when it really mattered, when he was teething or had the colic she just couldn't handle it. She'd just...go. Nine years I gave her to set things right, but she never did. So now we're up to speed."

"Almost. What do you do?"

"I invest a lot. I have several different businesses. I own all kinds of property. This building for example."

"You own this building?"  
"Marco and Maria were going to lose their lease because the landlord was an absolute crook. So I bought it off him and made sure the terms were fair." That explained some more of the welcome he had received. But it hadn't been like a fair landlord saving you from losing your home, more like a family member coming home, like he'd said. Her heart warmed as she realized he'd taken her there because they were his family. The family he'd made for himself.

"You really sold Malfoy Manor?"

"Yes. To someone who deserved that drafty hellhole. I might have forgotten to tell him only Malfoys can Apparate into the house so now he has to walk up the drive everyday. Small vengeance, but still."

"Who?"

"Theodore Nott." She grimaced. He really had been a monumental prick.

"Serves him right." Silence fell for a second and she saw that he was fiddling with his cutlery, his back ramrod straight. He was waiting for her to respond to the story, she realized. It must have cost him to be so frank about what were clearly painful memories. So she leaned forward, her hand seeking his on top of the table.

"I think you came out of it a better man. You learnt from what you went through and I admire you for that. Instead of staying the way you were, which would have been easier, you became your own person. I'm still glad I'm here and I'm not about to up and leave this chair." He relaxed.

"That obvious, huh? You'll have to tell me something about you now that I've gone on and on about me."

"I'm not sure my story would be very long or very interesting."

"Why did you marry him?" It surprised her that she wanted to tell him, wanted to explain.

"I did love him. When I married him it was because I wanted to, with all my heart. But then when I sunk into the shadow, becoming only his wife, losing sight of who I was I realized he was never going to be the support I needed. I was always there for him but I got little in return. I didn't want a marriage that was just one-way. I'll always love him but it's time I stand up for what I need. What I…want." She met his gaze and figured she hadn't lost her touch completely.

"And what is it you…want?" Her heart did a double beat as everything inside her screamed "_you_!"

"Right now? I want…" She licked her lips and lowered her voice an octave. "…pasta." He laughed.

"Easily arranged."

o.O.o

After one of the best meals Ginny had ever had they had moved out to the large tables in the crowded part of the restaurant. Just sitting next to him he made her feel so many things she hadn't felt in years. When he looked at her she felt beautiful. When he laughed at something she said she felt funny, when he listened intently she felt interesting. When he kissed her hand with a playful wink just as Marco had he made her heart beat heavier. She felt comfortable surrounded by his family, felt her heart swell as a little girl who couldn't be more than three years old climbed his lap, knowing she'd be welcome. She didn't feel old or frumpy or like just a "mum" when he smiled at her over the head of the little girl and made her insides turn liquid as he reached for her hand under the table as he made the toddler giggle.

Then he had been pulled in to the kitchen to experiment with a sauce Marco was trying out and Maria had taken his place, holding two glasses and a bottle of wine.

"For special occasions," she said with her melodious accent as she pointed to the label and Ginny saw it held the name of the family, Montrelli. "This is special occasion, Draco hasn't brought a girl here before." Ginny glanced over at him in the kitchen where he was bent over some pot, his jacket and tie discarded and his sleeves rolled up.

"He hasn't?"

"No, you must be very special. He doesn't let many people in to his life. I'm glad he found someone. He doesn't deserve to be alone." Briskly Maria opened the wine and poured.

"I…we're only on our first date." She confided and Maria chuckled and angled her head.

"First of many. I know. I read that boy like book. He's…ah, _come si dice_…a goner." Ginny felt her mouth drop open.

"Ah, I…Well, that's certainly…"

"You do not like it? That he likes you?"

"No, no, I do. I just…I haven't been dating I a while and I have a son and…" Maria waved her hand in the air.

"L'inglese! Always making things so complicated. Let me ask you, what do you feel when you look at him?"

"Happy. Warm…" She took a sip of wine and looked over to him again. He was smiling at something Marco was saying and turned slightly so he could catch her eye. "Like I want to kiss him until I can't breathe." Blushing as she realized what she'd said Maria chuckled.

"I can tell. You're a lucky woman. He has a face _come un angelo_, no?"

"He does. He always has."

"Ah, you know him before, si?"

"Yes, we…we went to school together." She didn't know how much he had told his…adopted family about his past.

"Ah, at Hogwarts? He told me," she whispered. In response to Ginny's stunned face, she continued, "He told me everything. Well, most of it. Some things are…" She let her expressively gesticulating hands fall and Ginny nodded. She knew the scars the war had left. Maria picked up again, "When he came here he was so lonely…and so skinny! I fed him right and gave him my spoon over the ear a few times, when he was rude." Ginny hid a snort behind her wineglass imagining the Draco Malfoy she knew from school getting hit over the ear with a wooden spoon by a stern-faced, wide-hipped Italian woman who probably reached to his chin. She would have paid good money to see it.

"And we realized what he really wanted was _una famiglia_, a home. So we gave it to him." She said it simply, as if it had been easy to take in a new member in the family, and Ginny was reminded of how Harry had become part of hers. That had been easy too. Taking a sip from her wine Ginny guessed that Draco Malfoy had needed a family as desperately at age seventeen as Harry had needed it at age eleven. And these wonderful people had realized it and made it come true.

Her heart warmed as she saw Marco sling his arm companionably around Draco's shoulders as they leaned over the pot together. She suddenly realized that this was where the new Draco Malfoy came from. Had that been what he wanted her to see? That what she knew from before had changed and in great part thanks to the family he had made for himself?

"It's a beautiful family. You have a beautiful family." Maria nodded approvingly as she glanced around.

"We do. I've been lucky. Do you have family, except for your son?"

"Yes." Ginny chuckled. "I have six brothers and six sister-in-laws, eleven nieces and nephews, and my parents."

"Ah, a dynasty, si? You'll have to bring them here. We'll have party." Maria patted her on the knee and looked up with a smile. "Ah, caro, there you are." She tilted her head and Draco pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Thank you for entertaining my date." She stroked his cheek.

"My pleasure." She got up and winked at Ginny. "Make sure he behaves himself."

"Oh, I own a spoon or two myself." With a big laugh Maria headed into the kitchen.

"She told you that, did she?"

"Oh, don't worry, I won't do it. Unless you're really, really naughty." He held his hand out for her.

"I'm sorry you get left on your own, Marco gets very focused on his experiments."

"I wasn't on my own. Maria and I had a chat. It's fine. It was nice to meet your family." He smiled and pulled her up from the bench.

"Ah, you figured that out?"

"It's obvious. I can see how much you care for each other. I'm glad…Thank you, for letting me see it."

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. While I got indented into slave labour in the kitchen." Ginny giggled at his put on affronted tone.

"What did you slave over?"

"New sauce. Too much salt, it was strangling the sage."

"Well, that is simply unacceptable."

"Are you making fun of me, Ms. Weasley?" His smile made her heart stutter. It was so long since she'd laughed so easily.

"I wouldn't dare. You might strangle me with sage."

"Smartass." He gave her cheek a quick caress and Ginny couldn't help but hold his hand in place, pressing her lips to where his pulse was beating in his wrist. They stilled and Ginny felt her heartbeat stop galloping, getting replaced by slow, heavy beats like waves on a shore, the pulsing of them filling her ears until there was nothing but him in her mind.

Then she realized it had gotten too quiet. Glancing around she realized they were getting unabashedly stared at with varying degrees of amusement and in some cases, nostalgia.

"Ah…I…" Draco stepped back, letting his hand fall and she heard a disappointed mumble. With a smile tugging at her lips at the owlishly blinking spectators she heard Maria bark something in Italian. Draco nodded and smiled, handing her her coat and shrugged on his jacket. Waving goodbye she let him lead her to the door. "What did Maria say?" He held the door open for her and spoke,

"She said the show was over and for them to mind their manners, leaving the "nice girl" alone and to let me walk you home." Ginny felt mischief rise within her. That was something else she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Did she now? I think she was wrong. I'm not a nice girl and the show had barely started." Then she dragged him close, buried her fingers in his hair and kissed him. Catcalls rose around them and Ginny felt his lips curve against her own as he pulled her closer. To keep it PG she withdrew a lot sooner than she'd want and with a glance in Maria's direction she saw the woman smile widely, her hand over her heart as she waved at Ginny. Waving her goodbye she tossed her hair and enjoyed the slightly vacant expression on Draco's face as she sailed out past him. With laughter bubbling inside her she held out her hand for him to take so they could Apparate home.

o.O.o

Draco knew the smile on his face had to be idiotic but no one was there to see it so he didn't care.

"You look like an idiot."

"Merlin! Announce yourself, will you?" Blaise sauntered into the kitchen, one of Draco's beers already in his hand.

"Honey, you're home!" He sat down at the table and stretched his long legs out in front of him. "You still look like an idiot."

"How long have you been here?" Grabbing some bottled water Draco joined his friend at the table.

"Do I need to clarify? I mean you look _more_ like an idiot than usual."

"I think that's just your failing eyesight. Did you hang out with Score and his friends? Cause that is kind of…creepy. And sad." He twisted the cap off and Blaise scowled. He hated people mentioning his bad eyesight, on feature of him that wasn't completely perfect. Draco would still treasure the memory of how he'd come to realize it. He'd gone over to his friend's and had found him squinting at some old legal documents; a pair of the Spectraspecs Luna had worn in school sometimes, perched on his nose. She'd noticed he couldn't see very well and had enchanted them to help. After Draco had stopped laughing too hard to hear Blaise he'd muttered about losing his real glasses. But it was too late, the image was forever lodged in Draco's mind.

"Speaking of creepy and sad, how was your date?" Draco arched an eyebrow.

"How much did Score take you for? If you got him that new game then I'll have to-"

"No. I guessed and you just confirmed it." Draco leaned back in his chair and Blaise leaned forward.

"Interesting. You know Score would never sell you out, not even for Halo. Which means, you knew I was tricking you. So actually…you wanted me to know. Intriguing. That can only mean you want to brag. Which means your date was not sad. The creepy part you can't help…She must be hot then. Now who do I know that you wouldn't want to tell me about at first but now that you're closing the deal you want me to find out about…"

"Should I just get a mirror and leave you to it, since you're not actually talking to me?"

"Shut up. I'm thinking." Blaise narrowed his tawny eyes and sipped form his beer. Draco settled down to wait. Zabini would never guess it and it'd be fun to watch him try.

"Well, you smell like Italian, which means you took her to Montrelli's. Meeting the folks, big step. But so early on? My money is on that she knew you at school. You wanted her to see you're not the same stuck-up prick you were. Now you're just a prick. So, who could it be…" His eyes widened marginally before narrowing again. "It's not Daphne, is it? Because if it is I'll put you out of your misery myself, right now."

"What? No." Blaise relaxed again.

"Okay…Well, it's no one from our house or you wouldn't bother taking her to Montrelli's. Someone hot who wasn't in Slytherin, then. Is it Chang? She's been giving you the eye since her divorce. Every time we're there for a game she's all like, "Oh, Draco, you came, how _sweet_ of you!" Draco snorted at Blaise's fair imitation of the former Ravenclaw seeker, now playing for the Holyhead Harpies.

"No, it's not Cho."

"Oh, I know, Amber. She's so into you now that you've _changed_. Always fluttering around you, her skirts are getting shorter and shorter. By next month she'll be without one entirely." One of Draco's business associates' secretary was the former Hufflepuff Amber Hills and she made sure to have a reason to visit his office at least twice a month.

"No, not Amber."

"Fine, fine…See, this would be easier if you'd cared about any girls but Weasley your last year at Hogwarts. Then I could…" Blaise looked up at him and his jaw dropped. It made Draco wish he had a camera as he smiled and tilted his head,

"Yes? What about Ginny?"

"…Oh, holy mother of Morgana. You're kidding me. It's Weasley?" Draco leaned back in his chair.

"That's right. We had a great evening that was never either creepy or sad. You must be judging me from your own limited experience."

"I'll get back to both how it's not sad or limited in a minute. But first, congrats, man." He toasted Draco with his beer and crossed his legs at the ankle. "I'll be damned. How did you do it?"

"With my considerable charms? Easy."

"You used Score, didn't you? Showed her what a shining example of a parent you were. That's cheating."

"You're just jealous you were to young to use it on Luna."

"Maybe. Seriously though, Dray, I…Do you think she knows how you felt at school?"

"No. And she shouldn't. I'm not that person anymore."

"I know that, and she probably does too if she's dating you but…It's never going to be casual for you. She just got divorced, maybe she…Maybe you're not on the same page." Draco shrugged. It was a very real concern and it did bother him. It warmed his heart that his friend was looking out for him. Not that he'd let him know that.

"Maybe she does want something casual. Maybe she just wants an in between husbands boyfriend. But I have a chance, Blaise. A better chance than I ever thought I'd have. However small, it's better than nothing. What do they say, it's better to play and lose, than not to play at all? Well, I'm going all in, I'm playing my whole hand and I'm going to hope for a strike."

"That is…the most abysmal use of game metaphors I have ever heard."

"Says the man who thought calling the kettle black meant the pot was racist."

"It so is. You're the one who…"

o.O.o

Score crept back up the stairs. He hadn't really meant to eavesdrop. He'd just wanted to hear how the evening had gone. And he didn't think he'd ever heard the tone of voice his dad used when he talked about Ginny. It made him worried. And a little sad. Like something was ending. The era of him being the only other person in his dad's life was over. Climbing into his bed, he berated himself. His dad had earned it, had earned the right to be happy. But it still made him feel very, very little again, tempted to call for his dad, hear his footsteps approach, feel his weight shift on the mattress when he sat down and be enveloped in the feeling that nothing would ever hurt him, nothing would ever change. But he squeezed his eyes shut and clamped his lips. He was not going to be a baby. He was going to let his dad be happy. Warm tears slid into his hair where he was lying and angrily he turned on his side, wiping them off on the pillow. Sometimes change was good, he reminded himself. His mum leaving had in the end been a good thing. Maybe this would be good too. Just as long as Ginny didn't hurt his dad like his mum had. But thinking back to how her brown eyes would shine when she looked at James he knew she was nothing like his mum. She loved her son, for one. And she was funny, and certainly pretty, and she made his dad happy. Maybe things could be different. Just maybe he could hope it would be.

A/N: By popular request, Blaise is back, I hope you liked it :) I hadn't meant to actually write anything besides Ginny and Draco's POVs but the little Score bit just refused to be edited out, so I'll leave it for now. I hope you enjoyed reading about their date as much as I enjoyed writing it and if you speak Italian I would like to profusely apologize for butchering your language with Internet translations. Thank you all for reading and a special thanks to my reviewers: hatebelow, BlackRose851, Nutmeg44, Mhale87, Jamie and Sareer Malfoy, you guys always make my day! See you next time, Sannikex.


	6. Chapter 6

Ginny hummed to herself as she sorted the clean laundry into piles of James' and hers. For some reason he amassed laundry, his pile was twice the size of hers and she couldn't figure out how. He seemed to always be wearing the same thing, jeans and a t-shirt, so where did all these clothes come from? But not even that mystery could bring her high spirits down. Her date had gone "beyond awesome", she thought and snickered as she recalled the stunned look on Draco's face when she'd planted one on him in front of his family. It had been such a relief to do something purely because it was funny. And okay, because she'd wanted to kiss him. Still, it made her feel ten years younger to give in to the mischievous side again.

So yesterday she'd felt brave enough to venture out and take the plunge. She'd bought a cell phone, her very first, and James had enjoyed trying to get her to buy the very latest model with the most ridiculous services she'd ever heard. Then he'd tried to convince her he needed it. In the end she'd settled for a simple one that had made James mutter something about "might as well live in the stone age". But she loved it. It was small, it could take pictures and, best of all, it kept her in almost constant contact with Draco.

After the purchase she'd had an enjoyable half hour when her son taught her to text. It was rare that she got to sit so close to him as she had yesterday. She thought by now that he might regret teaching her as she had put her new skill to great use: phone nagging. The repeated beep of his cell seemed to work a lot better than her shouting voice as she instructed him to clean his room. It only took 27 texts before she heard him begin stomping around, opening and closing drawers. Smirking to herself in triumph she'd gone to sort the laundry, maybe catch him still on his feet to put it away. Then her own phone beeped and she dropped the socks she was pairing up. Flipping the lid open she smiled as she found another text from Draco. He'd replied to her earlier question about what he was doing.

"_Grocery shopping with Score. Saturday is hell. Where did all these people come from?"_

"_Score came with you to shop for groceries?! :o"_ She painstakingly typed. She was extra proud she had picked up on the little symbols representing faces.

"_He likes to check out girls much too old for him and make sure I buy the right kind of cereal."_ Ginny laughed out loud to herself as her phone beeped again. _"Oh, oh, he found one. She must be at least sixteen. In hotpants. Poor guy."_ Ginny gave up on laundry folding alotogehter and curled up on the couch. _"Now he's "casually" following her around the store. Should I be worried?"_ She giggled and typed as quickly as she could,

"_My brothers did much worse than casually follow girls around. Until the turns her into a canary I think you're safe."_

"_Was that autocorrect or did you say canary?"_

"_Oh, I meant it. You're lucky I haven't turned you into an animal yet." _A second useful feature of texting, she'd found out, was flirting. Anywhere, anytime. It made her feel as if she was back to school in a delightful, silly way.

"_Well, now you're making me insecure, don't you like me enough to turn me into a winged vertebrate?" _The man used words like vertebrate to make a joke. She was in heaven.

"_Or do I like enough to spare you the experience?"_

"_You flatter me, Weasley. Like me enough not to turn me into an animal, in which form I'd be of very little use to you, how sweet. If you had to though, don't make it a ferret. Painful memories. Got to go, Score might walk into a wall and hurt himself if I don't tear his eyes off the hotpants."_ Still laughing Ginny put her phone in her pocket and ventured into the kitchen just as the home phone rang.

"Hello?" Laughter still in her throat died as Harry responded,

"Ginny? You sound…happy." She sat and fiddled with the cord.

"I am, Harry. Or I'm getting there."

"I'm…I'm glad, then. Listen, Ginny, I know I'm supposed to have James next weekend but I'm just slammed. There's this case and I wouldn't be able to see him much anyway, do you think you can…"

"Fine, Harry, I will, but you're telling him. I'm tired of making up excuses for you. You call our son and tell him you're too busy to see him."

"Ginny…"

"Don't "Ginny" me in that tone, you have no right to that tone anymore. Like _you're_ exasperated with _me_. I'm sick of it."

"I'm not "_too busy_" to see my son. I have three dead children and no leads and tomorrow I may have to look a fourth mother in the eye and tell her her child is dead. So don't make it sound like I'm "_busy_" with bloody paperwork!"

"I know, Harry, okay! I know better than anyone what you deal with. If things had been different I might even have been able to help you with them. But you can't lay your guilt on me. I can't take the blame for what you chose!" Breathing hard she took some calming breaths. "Listen, I know what you do is life and death, that you save lives everyday. But I have to watch James be disappointed every time you don't see him when you say you will or you don't call when you're supposed to. It's just…hard." She realized shw ws standing up and slowly she sat down again.

"I know. I…I do get it but I just…"

"Let's just…not fight about it. There's nothing to change about it. But you're still calling him yourself."

"I'll try to find the time to-"

"No. You'll call him right now." Summoning the voice of Molly Weasley she heard Harry shift. He was powerless in front of maternal decree.

"Okay, I will."

"Good…thanks."

"Bye, Ginny."

"Wait, Harry. What's James' favorite class at school?"

"DADA, of course. Ginny, I really have to go. Bye." Rubbing her temples she leaned back in her chair and sighed. Picking up her cell phone began texting Draco. _Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it_, her mind chanted. It was pointless. It was unfair. It was- He replied.

"_Transfiguration, you said, but Arithmancy is a close second. Why?"_

"Oh, Merlin." Draco Malfoy knew more about Harry's son after meeting him twice than his father did. She knew it was childish to compare them but she just couldn't help it.

"_No reason. Shopping finished?"_

"_Praise Jesus, yes. Score is looking like a lovesick puppy and sighing every two seconds since we left the store before hotpants did."_ She heard James' stereo turn on to a deafening racket and closed her eyes. It sounded like Harry had called his son.

"_I have a morose teenager on my hands as well. James' weekend with Harry fell through."_ Three seconds after she'd sent the text off her phone rang. Seeing it was Draco she picked up.

"Draco?"

"Hi, I have an idea."

"Yes?"

"We'll take them bowling. Score and James, that is."

"Now? Wait, bowling?"

"Yes, right now. Score is in the bathroom but I'm sure he'll hate it."

"Er, great? I'm pretty sure spending time bowling with his mum is pretty low on James' list of things he wants to do today."

"Exactly. What better way to make them think of something else than by making them do things they don't want to do?" Ginny laughed.

"You really think that'll work?"

"Why not? They'll be joined against us, deciding we're the most embarrassing characters created since the Village People. Great bonding. He's coming back now. I'll drag him over to the bowling alley. There's an Apparation point in one of the abandoned storefronts at the mall, from there just follow the sounds of forced laughter to the bowling alley. See you soon." He hung up and stunned Ginny could just stare at the phone. Laughing to herself she got up and her smile died as she heard a crash from James' room. She highly doubted it would help matters but there might be less property damage involved if she got him out of the house.

"James!"

o.O.o

She hadn't exactly dragged him there by the collar, but it had been a close call. The mention that Score would be there seemed to have tipped the scales in between a lot of sighing and eye rolling. So twenty minutes after the call, a quick change of clothes and a dash through her make-up bag later they arrived at the bowling alley. She spotted Draco's tall frame as he lounged easily in the booth that adjoined what she assumed was their lane. Next to him, looking sullen for once, was Score. With James trudging behind her she approached and Draco greeted her with a chaste kiss on the cheek. James made some sort of half-grunt along with lifting a shoulder in greeting to Score and gave a side-long glance with barely a nod to Draco before slumping down on the couch. Score gave some mysterious little chin jerk in response to James' greeting and got to his feet and nodding to her, a polite smile grazing his features and she felt her heart twist a little. He was trying so hard to fight the teenage sulkiness that James completely gave in to.

"Hi," she said and wondered if Draco was going to say something. He was fiddling with the scoreboard, it seemed it was plugged in to a TV screen at the moment showing all their names. Then it updated and Ginny bit back a laugh as there were now two team names instead, "Champions of Awesomeness and Transcended Wisdom" and "The Short Stuffs".

"Okay, since none of us care about bowling I'm upping the stakes. The losing team will make dinner for all four of us _and_ clean up afterwards." Score looked like he was considering while James' jaw dropped.

"_Both_ make dinner and clean up? That's not fair!"

"Afraid to lose before even begin?"

"No. Bowling is super easy. Score and I will totally beat your ass…" he looked up at her and changed his mind, "butts," he finished lamely and Ginny swallowed back a laugh.

"As if, tiny person of much faith. Go pick up one of the baby bowling balls." She held her breath and waited for James' temper to explode, but to her wonder he just laughed and stood, dancing over to the shelf with balls on them, manfully trying to lift the heaviest kind.

"Like I need a baby one. Come on, Score, you gotta choose the right ball." Score stood and looked amused as he joined her son in his intent perusal of the brightly coloured balls.

"How do you do that? He was in such a bad mood just a minutes ago." Draco rose and lightly rested his hand at the small of her back.

"Distraction. Best way to deal with teenage tempers. Think of it like a terrier barking at some fabric caught in a fence."

"What?"

"Bear with me. As long as you just stand and shout at your terrier he'll focus on the fabric. Once you take out a bright green ball and throw it in the other direction, he'll happily bound after it."

"You're certifiable."

"I just have a way with words. Maybe not quite as good as you, I mean the poem you sent Potter was pretty amazing. The alliteration, the tempo, it was written in hexameter, right?"

"First of all, I can't believe you actually remember that, I don't think even Harry does. And secondly," she punched him lightly in the arm. "That's for bringing it up."

"He doesn't remember it? He always had slow brains behind those eyes the color of new-pickled toads and-" Ginny giggled as he trailed off when Score and James returned, each struggling under the weight of much too heavy bowling balls. He bent close and whispered, "Too easy. What do you feel like having for dinner?"

Ginny watched, amazed as the man kept James laughing for a whole hour, with lighthearted teasing, slinging insults like the bowling balls. She kept thinking that one of them would hit and metaphorically topple James' pins but he seemed to enjoy the manly tradition of it and tried to give as good as he got. Then when she and Draco won she expected a tantrum but he just grumbled, yet still with a smile on his face, about cheating. She began to wonder if the former Slytherin was some kind of teenage whisperer. She could never get James to either cook or clean up after himself.

Score on the other hand had seemed to forget all about older girls as he joined in accusing the grown-ups of cheating.

"If you weren't so busy losing you'd have seen that the two of us possess astounding coordination and dexterity and had no problem beating you without cheating. Therefore, we demand," he glanced over to her and winked, "tacos for dinner." Torn between delight of having one of his favorite foods and complaining James and Score set out in front of them.

"You like tacos, right?"

"I do. Did you have a penchant for it tonight?"

"I had a penchant for something that'd take them long to both make and clean up after, so I'll get more time with you."

"You are very, very smooth. Suspiciously so."

"Well, we're both smooth talkers. That brings me back to my earlier point. Hair as dark as a blackboard?" She laughed, more touched that he could remember a poem she'd written in first year than annoyed he'd brought it up.

"Sure, just revel in my suffering. I agonized for days over that verse. Besides," she sent him a sideways glance, "judging by how well you remember it I'm wondering if you were, perchance jealous? The great and might Draco Malfoy, jealous of a Valentine's from a skinny first year?" She raised an eyebrow, copying his trademark move.

"Of course I was. I only got a Valentine's from Pansy, and one from Crabbe."

"Crabbe?"

"He always was dim. He didn't quite grasp the concept of the day."

"Well, then I'm glad I at least outrank desirability over Crabbe and Pansy."

"Easy. Potter never realized what he had." The air seemed to still and Ginny felt a sudden weight settle in it. He couldn't possibly have cared about her as far back as in school. Couldn't have cared she was with Harry then. They'd been as close to hating each other as two people who don't know one another could. He seemed to catch it to and cleared his throat. "Of course, I made up for the lack of them in later years."

"I can imagine." The joke eased too heavy implications and she smiled. She could easily imagine it. He probably positively drowned in Valentine's cards in February. At least if the looks he was receiving from the two female teenage clerks selling sodas and nachos were anything to judge by. As well as the two mothers presiding over a kid's party, wearing jeans with elastic waists. And the all female bowling team wearing pink shirts with "Sunnyside's Retirement Home" written on the backs. Feeling a tad smug she hooked her arm through his as they left the bowling alley.

o.O.o

Ginny felt like she was in some weird and wonderful alternate reality. It was almost dinnertime and she wasn't slaving over her stove or feeling guilty over only providing her son with microwave food. Instead she could vaguely hear the clinking of plates and the laughing voices of James and Score as they made dinner while she walked with Draco through his wonderful garden, in the last of the sun before it sank behind the houses on the other side of the street. In a few hours she could possibly go to bed after a day of not fighting with her son once. She didn't know the last time that had happened. And next to her was man who made her laugh, made her want and made her heart beat faster. A man who seemed to, for whatever reason she couldn't quite fathom yet, only want to look at her, only touch her and only be close to her. A man who was raising a son to be mature, polite and free all at the same time. For the first time in a really long time she felt lucky.

"Listen, Ginny, about before…I…" He stopped on the little path and ran a hand though his hair, a gesture she now recognized meaning he was nervous or uncertain. "I shouldn't have said that about Potter…About never knowing what he had. I don't know what…what you two had and I shouldn't presume things about it just because…Well, because."

"I guess not…Draco, I'll always love him, in a way. I just can't be with him. He'll always be James' dad and I'd never in a million years regret what we did have once." He turned halfway away from her and put his hands in his pockets.

"I do know that. I just…" Again she felt unsaid words hover around them. She reached out and put her hand on his cheek.

"He called today. We fought, nothing out of the ordinary. But do you know what he said when I picked up? That I sounded happy. He was surprised. Can you imagine? It had been so long since he heard me happy, it surprised him. And I was happy, because I'd just been talking to you. _You_ make me happy, Draco." He slid his arms around her waist.

"Good. Cause you make me happy too. Idiotically so, Blaise claims." She let her hands trail over his cheek, twine into his hair.

"It's not the first time for either of us. There're bound to be complications. Two of them are in the kitchen as we speak. But I want you to know that I'm happy. More so than I've been in a long time." His arms tightened around her as he brought her flush against him. A murmur of approval worked its way up her throat as the hard planes of him melded with her. As he made her feel both vulnerable and wonderfully safe with his lean, hard frame and tough arms she felt incredibly powerful as she slid her lips over his and felt his heart speed up.

The sweet longing rose inside her as his tongue took her mouth, the yearning building when she rose up on her toes to get even closer. His hand travelled up her back, burying in her hair, pulling gently at it, the light pain of it shooting an arrow lust straight to her quivering stomach. Obliging his wish she tilted her head backwards and his mouth trailed to her neck, finding a tender spot and biting gently. A mewl escaped her and she felt the yearning bleed into need. His hands got firmer as the pounding desire woke like flames under her skin. _So long_, she thought, it had been so long, since anyone made her feel this alive, this bright. Warmth pooled in her belly as his lips found hers again and she let her hands wander over the broad expanse of his back, enjoying the sensation of his muscles bunching under her hands. His hand travelled down her waist, over her hip to her thigh and desperate to feel it stay on her she brought her leg up, letting his hand trail to her knee. Feeling him grip it she didn't think twice and used her arms around his neck to push herself up. He easily took on her weight and hoisted her higher, both her legs wrapping around his waist as she brought them core to core. Feeling the flames build into a roar in her head she ground against him with desperate urgency. She felt him groan, the feel of it reverberating through her chest. Working her hand between them she found the buttons on his shirt and set to open them without letting her lips leave his.

"Wait, wait, not here. Not now." Surprised she looked up and felt blood rise in her cheeks.

"Merlin." Her son was back in the house and though she probably would have heard him approach she wasn't sure. And she'd all but tried to drag Draco to the ground and have her way with him. Blessing their Quidditch-acquired balance that they'd not tumbled to the ground already she loosened her legs and he carefully set her down. Then she felt a laugh bubble up in her throat. Draco's hair was tangled and his shirt half-open, she probably looked as disevelled herself and no one had seen them. So she let it erupt and after a shocked second he joined her. Still chuckling she buttoned his shirt again and he caught her wrists, pulling her close for a kiss, long and sweet. Feeling almost drunk on it she stepped back.

"It…This…may have to happen a bit sooner than I planned."

"That works for me. But make no mistake, when it does, I won't rush through it. I'll have you for a whole night. So we'd better send our kids off for it." Then he stuffed his hands in his pockets and strolled down the path as Ginny gaped. _All night_? A shiver of expectation chased down her spine. She wouldn't put it past him.

o.O.o

"How often does Score cook?" Settled back in the living room, listening to the clinking of plates and rattling of the dishwasher trays being pulled out as the two young boys tidied up after what had been a surprisingly (to Ginny) edible dinner.

"Once a week is the deal, but sometimes more, since I think he secretly likes it. Quite often we cook together. And he has to clean up after twice a week, but again, we sometimes do that together, too." Ginny nodded.

"I've been thinking about making James do some chores. I never really had to as a child since my mum insisted on doing it all by herself. It was more of a punishment when we had to do them. Of course, we helped out when she asked but I think it'd be good for him to have some more structure at home."

"I guess routine could make it easier for him. Maybe." He sent a glance in the direction of the kitchen where the mixing voices of their sons trailed out.

"I hope so. And to make our home feel more…permanent. I know he misses our old house as much as I do."

"It's a good idea. I'm not sure how warm a reception you'll get from him, initially, but I think it's a good idea."

"I suppose we can't always be friends to our children. But, Merlin, I wish we could. Just let them do what they think will make them happy." She curled deeper into her corner of the couch. "Sorry, single-parent blues. I think the call from Harry today just brought it home. That I'm doing this alone." He edged closer and turned her head by her chin.

"Hey, no need to apologize to me. I've had single-parent blues more than a few times myself. And every time I've wished someone would just say that I'm doing a good job. So let me tell you, Ginny, you're doing a great job. Your son is in an adjustment period, but it will get easier. He will realize what he has in you." Ginny felt a few knots inside her come undone and she relaxed, leaned against his hand.

"Thank you. That does help."

"Dad, is it okay if James and I go up to my room for a while or is Ms. We…Ginny staying a bit?" Score's voice trailed into the room and he looked to her and after a brief hesitation she nodded.

"Go on up for a bit, Score." She smiled, a tad shaky.

"Well, now that I've had advice from the master I don't see how I could fail."

"While I do like the sound of being the master of anything I think I'll just admit that the role of single parent is just full of worrying if you're doing it all right, if you're enough for him, if being hated is a price you're willing to pay in the pursuit of raising a healthy human being. And so forth."

"Sweet Circe."

"Then again. We don't always have to be alone. While I wouldn't presume to butt into your parenting, Ginny, I'm always here to listen. If you want to talk at the end of a long day, after a bout with James, or even just chat about the weather, I'm up for it." It was possibly the most helpful offer she'd gotten since her divorce.

"Thank you, Draco. I quite possibly will take you up on that."

"Do. Single-parent blues is no game…So, what did Potter say on the phone?"

"Believe it or not, I don't want to talk about Harry right now."

"Okay. How about pretending to watch a movie while we make out on the couch?" Ginny laughed and nodded. It took a special man, she thought, to know when to talk and when to listen. When to be serious and when to lighten the mood. He knew how to comfort you, whether physically with a caress, silently with a glance or with just the right words. With a flick of his wand the TV switched on to a movie, the sound barely audible before he grasped her by the knees and dragged her closer, comfortably settling her on his lap. For just a little while, she thought, she'd just be Ginny, not ex-wife of Harry or single mum of James. Not daughter of Arthur and Molly or sister, niece or aunt. She wanted to be no one and nothing beyond the woman sitting on his lap for just a few minutes. For just a little bit she'd be just herself, enjoying herself with just him. Leaning forward, she covered his lips with hers and sank in.

o.O.o

After James and Ginny had left his dad poked his head into Score's room.

"Hey, was hanging with Potter junior okay?" Score turned from his computer.

"Sure. He's miles better when he's out of school and don't have to impress his little cronies." Draco entered and sat on his son's bed.

"I'm sorry you got sort of pushed together today. He was supposed to meet his dad and it fell through and Ginny felt bad about it so I figured…"

"It's okay, dad. I thought we'd hang by ourselves today but it's fine." He might be all of thirteen years old but even to himself it sounded like – _just remember you're my dad first_. As if his dad could or ever would forget that.

"Okay. I know we missed out on having burgers today. So, how about this: I'm seeing Ginny Friday, you don't have to see James then if you don't want to, I'll tell her to send him to one of the millions of uncles he has. And before, on Thursday, you and me go to the arcade and I beat your ass in Space Shuttle Battle IV?" Score's face lit up.

"Okay. But I'll totally own you."

"Dream on. I'm off to bed, don't forget to sleep tonight."

"I won't. Goodnight, dad." As he was about to close the door Score spoke again.

"I…I'll probably hang with James again on Friday."

"Okay. I'll leave pizza money and the number to the emergency room. Night."

Score felt a smile creep over his features. The arcade was a treat; his dad didn't particularly like it there. It had always been a reward or consolation to go there, for times when he'd gotten really good grades or been sick. But now they were going out of the blue. Except for that his dad was consoling him, providing a well-known sanctuary for him. He must've heard what Score had been thinking and it made him feel warm inside that it was still mostly the two of them, that he was always first in his dad's mind. As long as he was sure of that he could hang with James. He seemed less of a prat every time he saw him. Or maybe he was just developing a higher tolerance for Potter's so called jokes. He snorted to himself and fired up his chat server.

o.O.o

Draco sat on his bed, running a hand through his hair. He'd been telling the truth when he told Ginny a single-parent's work was never done. If either he or Ginny had had at least a partner with whom they'd split from amicably they wouldn't be in the situation of having to squeeze what already felt like too little time out of the week to see each other. Wouldn't have to force their sons together when they might not have much in common. Though he was delighted that it seemed like they were getting along, it had occurred to him that in his hurried impromptu wish to see Ginny, to ease her life in any way he could, he'd forgotten he and his son always went for burgers after grocery shopping. Another reason Score often came along. It worried him that he could lose his head so completely just in his wish to see a woman. Then again she was so much more than some woman. Every time he saw her he got deeper and deeper entrenched in wanting to find out every little thing about her. Find out if he could like her even more than he already did. When he'd met Daphne it had been as he'd told Ginny. A sweet reminder of a past that could never be reborn. That he wouldn't _let_ be reborn. It had been like a whirlwind had wrecked though him and once it let him go all he felt inside was broken to pieces.

Every time he met Ginny he was more and more convinced she was different. She tended what was hers, took care of it. She was so strong, so stubborn in her insisting of making it on her own, of providing everything for her son even when he seemed to regard her as the bane of his existence most of the time. Daphne had always leaned on others, sighing and weeping until things went her way. Ginny just clenched her teeth and did what had to be done. She had told him when there was a leak she'd strapped her own tool belt on and armed with a book on how to fix pipes had managed to sort out the situation. If his ex-wife had found a leaking pipe she'd call – no, cry – for help and if none arrived would probably throw a tantrum and break something else. When her son pushed her away, Ginny kept at him, stayed with him, loved him. Even when her son had reached for her Daphne had edged away.

Ginny was funny and intelligent, and she liked to talk, both discussing serious issues and giggle over ridiculous things. Daphne had always been mostly interested in speaking of money, what she would spend that money on and herself. And her sense of humor had been appalling.

They were both beautiful, he had to admit as much, but while Daphne had fretted over her looks, had always critically examined every feature for any sign of a beginning wrinkle, Ginny just accepted her looks. They were just a part of her as innate as her stubbornness or mischievousness. That made them even more compelling, they were not bought or improved or man-made. She had a few shallow grooves on her face, around her mouth from smiling and around her eyes from laughing. It gave her face the character that made simple regularity and mathematical balance into beauty. Daphne had ruthlessly kept in shape, never eating more than her two low-calorie meals a day and working out religiously. She'd been all edges and angles while Ginny was soft, curvaceous. Not fat in the slightest, the curves called out for a man's hand to trail over them and as his had he could vouch for his preference. He'd never been afraid of getting a paper cut from touching Ginny. With her all he got was smooth skin, silky hair and soft curves over muscle underneath.

And why in the hell was he sitting here in the dark comparing the two? He knew which one he liked better. Probably had liked better since he was sixteen.

Perhaps it was to sooth the guilt he felt over forgetting his, if not promised, at least implied, burgers with Score to be with her. He had to show himself at least there was a good reason for his misstep. He knew, as he hoped Score knew, that his son would always have first place in his mind and heart but he couldn't help that having Ginny in his life would change things. Just as he was probably changing Ginny and James' routine. He lay down on his bed. This second beginning path really was littered with pitfalls.

A/N: Hi all! I hope you enjoyed the sixth installment of this and that it leaves you hungry for more :) I'd like to thank my lovely reviewers who truly do make sure any story of mine is ever updated, this time around:

_BlackRose851_ – I'm really glad you're sticking around and still like it!

_Nutmeg44_ – Hope you're not dead from the D/G hotness yet ;) I haven't decided how well Ginny and Luna have stayed in touch over the years yet, but a double date will definitely happen. Don't worry about _too_ terrible things, I'm a fluff-author at heart. Thanks so much for your kind reviews!

_a fan_ – I'm glad you like it still, since I can't sway from my OTP. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

_Virgo girl 14_ – Thank you, I'm so glad you like it :D I'm trying to keep them as much in character as I can, even though it's certainly an AU.

_Hatebelow_ – I'm glad you're fond of Blaise, I am too. I did try to make sure Draco and Blaise stay Slytherins even though they're a lot nicer than in the books…Score will hopefully get some consolation from some alone time with his dad at the arcade :) Thank you for your sweet reviews, they really help in making me update on time!

_Nova.81_ – Thank you, I'm so glad you love it! I like Blaise as Draco's best buddy too and I'm happy my writing made you laugh. Ginny and Score will get to interact soon and hopefully she'll help him with some of his doubts. Thank you for reading and leaving such a flattering review, it made my day!

_TessHardingfan_ – I'm glad you like it, there'll be lots more Score to come!

_SareerMalfoy_ – I don't know if I have a house…I'd say Ravenclaw, or maybe even Slytherin, if they're like I describe my Slytherins. Ten points, awesome, am now solidly in the lead for the house cup! Am very happy to have a loyal fan from Bravery is in the Eye of the Beholder joining us! Teddy will appear eventually even if his role isn't going to be too big, and some others as well. Other than that I like to keep my focus on a few, get inside their heads. Ginny and Score will definitely have time together as the story continues and Blaise will reappear, A LOT, cause I love writing him. I feel like we have a great symbiotic relationship, I made your week with my update and you made my week with you review :) Thanks so much for reading and I hope you keep enjoying!

– I'm so happy you do! I most definitely will keep writing :)


	7. Chapter 7

Draco adjusted his tie and ran a hand through his hair. For thirty-three and a single dad he didn't clean up too bad, he thought. Not that he suffered from low self-esteem when it came to his looks but it had been a long time since he'd dressed to impress a woman and not just for work or staying home.

"It won't get better the longer you stare at yourself. It's been twenty-two years and I'm still waiting for it to." Draco turned away from his reflection.

"Zabini. Does it ever occur to you to knock? I might've had a woman in here."

"As if. You keep them under the bed or something? In the closet? There's a joke to be made there, but I'll refrain to instead pursue a more interesting line of inquiry. Why the fancy duds?" He leaned against the doorjamb and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Date. With a woman, might I add, in response to your not so subtle and lame hint."

"If you have to tell me it's a woman, don't you think there's something you need to stop hiding from yourself? From me? I am your best friend, you know."

"However much fun it is to stand here and listen to you question my sexuality, I have to be off. Ginny is funnier, smarter and better looking than you, so..."

"Come to think of it, if you were gay, you'd definitely be into me, in which case I'd have to break your heart and then it'd be difficult for me to come around and steal your beer." Draco shook his head. Blaise had picked up the habit of talking to himself from his wife and he used the time of his monologue to check he had everything he needed in his pockets.

"I'm glad we settled this issue that was never an issue. Also that you're more bothered by lack of access to beer than my supposedly broken heart over you, thank you."

"Hey, I'm here to help, bro."

"At the moment it seems to me you're only here to make me late."

"For good reason."

"I wouldn't call coming into my bedroom and make jokes about my sexual orientation good reason, exactly, but I don't have time to argue with you. You being a lawyer it's always a tiresome affair."

"Only cause I always win."

"We talked about this. If it happens in your head it doesn't count."

"Luna would disagree. Anyway, I was sent here by my wife – for a reason. She wants me to ask you and Wea…Ginny, to dinner, if she agrees, on Friday."

"Dispatched like a messenger by the lady of the house, were you?"

"I volunteered, though why, now that I have experienced your substandard wit, I don't know."

"You came for my looks. I know you're jealous."

"Are you two arguing about who's the prettiest again?" Score came in to the room and Blaise slung an arm around his shoulders.

"We are. Though why your father bothers I don't know. I'm obviously the winner."

"Yeah, you're super-pretty, uncle Blaise." Score deadpanned and Draco smirked at Blaise. "Dad, I'm off now." He tried not to worry that his son was going to the house of a boy he had never met, along with a boy whose friendship he hoped was genuine. Teddy Lupin was a mature boy, Ginny had said and he was willing to take her word for it. So he swallowed his worry and smiled.

"All right, have a good time and don't do anything you think uncle Zabini would do." Score sniggered and nodded before heading off.

"Hardy har har. I'm a great role-model."

"I really don't have time for that discussion and since I knew you when you were a teenager you'd lose for sure."

"Damn. I hate it when you're right. Okay, so Floo or call or whatever about Friday. By the way, I would conjure up some candles in here if I were you."

"For what?"

"In case of a power cut." He rolled his eyes. "For Weasley, you idiot. I really must hang with you for your looks." The he left and Draco looked around. He'd bet Ginny looked really good in candlelight. So with a lazy flick of his wand he conjured a few candles.

Besides that he was as prepared he could be, he'd put clean sheets on the bed and vacuumed. He could have used a spell but somehow it felt more real to prepare for it himself, almost as if he was cleaning Daphne out to start fresh with Ginny. Looking around, he sat heavily on his bed. He had no idea why he was nervous. He wasn't new to sex, he'd been rather experienced in his younger days, before Daphne. Before anything had mattered, he supposed. That was the real crux of it. He knew this was going to matter. And more than it ever had before. He'd dreamt of it, more often than he wanted to admit in his teens and now, almost every night since he'd met her again, she'd been there, lodged in his mind, like a flickering mirage, always slightly out of reach. Until now.

Not that they'd said as much but after their date on Friday, then getting slammed with work the whole week they'd only managed a few phone calls. So when both Score and James were invited to a sleepover at Teddy's they'd both known what was going to happen. And a lot hinged on it. If they for some reason weren't compatible, didn't work together, then the rest of what they'd built would falter. And he really didn't want that. As desperately as he'd longed for finally getting his hands on her he'd happily trade it to make sure they could stay together. Keep laughing together, eating together, watch their sons grow up together. But if there was anything he was perfectly certain of in their relationship it was the overwhelming attraction they had for one another. It was always there, hanging in the air between them like an almost tangible haze. A boiling, raging, surging haze that they could easily reach or slip into, by accident or design, and find it hard to find their way back out of only knowing each other, of getting closer and closer until they were one and the same. If he'd liked her any less it'd be easy to let that fire consume them, give in and then stagger their separate ways once they were done with it. With each other. But since it meant something Draco was unsure how the raging desire would meld with the intimacy they did share. Could you really have such passion and a deeper connection as well? Could you find both in one person?

He glanced at the clock. There was only one way to find out and sitting about wasn't it. With a deep breath he left.

o.O.o

Ginny turned in front of the mirror, making sure her favorite black dress still fit as it should. And that it didn't reveal the outline of what she was wearing underneath. Because this time Draco would get to see it. She pressed her hand to her stomach. She fancied she could feel the butterflies fluttering in there. Though she was convinced it was the right time, more than sure that she wanted it, it had been a long time for her. A long time since she'd let anyone that close.

Toward the end of their marriage Harry hadn't been too interested in her, always too involved in his work, dragged to deep by other people's misery. And before that it had been…nice. It hadn't been a dysfunctional part of their relationship but it had never been the roaring, spitting, absolute _need_ to touch him, to be close that she felt with Draco. It was both exciting and a bit frightening. Would it be that way to be with him? Or would it fall flat compared to the building expectation they'd nurtured?

She dabbed some lip-gloss on her lips and stepped back to survey the results. She hadn't really known how to dress. He'd invited her to go dancing. Who went dancing anymore? Besides, did he mean in a club with pounding base or 50's style hopping around? She hoped not. So in the end she'd settled for her trusty black dress, the familiarity of an old favorite helping her nerves. She'd left hair down, the mad curling tamed somewhat to what she hoped looked more sultry than tangled and the color stood out like licking flames in contrast to both the pale skin of her bare shoulders and the black of her dress. She'd kept her make-up discreet save for two black flicks of eyeliner. Under her dress she'd waxed, scrubbed and polished her skin, finishing off with the fancy body lotion Hermione had given her for her birthday. With a deep breath she picked up her little purse and thought she had definitely done her best.

It had been a week since she'd seen him last. After Friday, when they'd gone to the movies and laughed themselves silly over the atrocious script and bad acting in a Hollywood blockbuster. To the dismay of the other moviegoers, as they'd kept a whispered, running commentary between them. Then he'd taken her home and kissed her silly against the door.

After that they'd both been slammed with work and Ginny had cursed every single person who thought it was amusing to enchant muggle items and sell them to unsuspecting innocents. In fact she liked cursing a lot of things now. Anything that prevented her from spending her time running her hands through Draco's hair as he kissed her was pretty high on her dislike-o-meter lately, in fact. But finally, Saturday had come along and James was at a sleepover at Teddy's. And so was Score. There'd be no one but the two of them around. Finally.

Having agreed to meet Draco at the bar she took one last look in the mirror before Apparating to central London. It was neither a club, nor a swinging kind of place, she noted with relief. It was cozy, aiming for a vintage feel with deep booths, a grandiose bar and soft lighting. It reminded her of black and white movies, cocktails and evening dresses. She spotted him at the bar, recognizing him easily from the back, his height and his hair a give-away. As if he could sense her he turned and her heart stuttered. He was in a suit again and looked like he could have easily been the leading man in a black and white movie. With his romantically good looks and that slight edge of danger that still clung to him he looked simply irresistible. As was obvious by the four different women who were giving him the eye. He spotted her and from the corner of her eye she saw all the women turn away. Her heart sped up. He looked taken. By her. Hers. With a smile she met him and he pulled her out on the dance floor where a slow song was playing. Something old-fashioned and sweetly romantic.  
"Well, hello."

"Hi." He spun her easily, before guiding her back and dipping her gently. She was impressed, she didn't even know what type of dance it was but it was easy to follow him and she enjoyed the feeling of him pressed close to her. It felt intimate to move as one with him, hinting at what was to come and Ginny reveled in the feeling of him, the hard muscles, the sure hands, the warm arm round her waist, the buckle of his belt pushing against her stomach.

"Those lessons paid off."

"I hated them until I found out how much women enjoy dancing. And if I get to hold you, then it was worth it."

"I think you might get to do more than that with these skills."

"Actually, I hate it, should we go?" She knew he was joking but she thought they'd waited enough.

"Okay."

"Er, I was…I…Do you want to?"

"I do, Draco." He captured her lips for a kiss that left them both breathless before pulling at her hand.

"Let's go."

Apparating together Ginny thought it could only be pure luck that kept them from getting splinched as preoccupied as they both were. Walking a bit stiffly next to each other, holding hands but unsure of how to proceed they made their way up his garden path. He held the door open for her, and she stepped in, her heels clicking on the checkered stone floor. He'd closed the door carefully and then he'd stopped her, pulling her back towards him so her back was flush against him, his arm around her waist.

"You look…incredible, tonight." He spoke, his voice rough but his lips soft against her hair and she leaned back, into him. "You were always stunning but now…" He let his free hand graze over her bare shoulder, down her arm and she felt little jolts of shock dance under the skin he touched. "Now, more than ever, you are incredible. I see you and I forget to breathe." She'd never imagined that just words could have such an impact but her knees almost buckled as his voice rasped in his throat, the familiar sound of it, the polished accent roughened around the edges. His hot breaths against her throat sent licks of flames spiraling through her and she turned, wrapping her arms around his neck. She'd never felt more desirable, more worthy of the way he was talking to her as she met his eyes, felt the truth in his words. It made her feel powerful and adored. It made her feel scared and comforted. It made her want in a way that she hadn't known before she met him.

Seeking his lips she pressed herself closer to him, heard him groan as he adjusted his grip on her and turned them, backing her up against the wall, his hands roaming her sides possessively. The sensations she had now come to expect around him began to swirl through her, the pounding, insistent want, the quick emptying of her mind and the slow filling of it again with only him. Feeling him with each of her senses she stored each memory carefully. The classical masculine scent of his after-shave in her nostrils, with the undertone of just him. The feel of the muscles in his arms shifting as she ran her hands over the expensive fabric of his jacket. The taste of him when he kissed her reminding her of peppermint and something warm and spicy, like brandy. His voice as he mumbled endearments in her ear, his voice hoarse and hurried. Seeing his beautiful eyes deepen a shade when he tugged down the dress she wore.

"Please," she hooked her leg over his hip and felt her dress ride up her thigh. Saw that he noticed it too. "I don't want to wait anymore. I want you." The words seemed to push him over the edge of precariously held on to control and as she had imagined it would be, it was as if lightning had struck as they let the need take over.

o.O.o

The next morning Ginny thought she might have died and gone to heaven. Sitting in the sunshine of the garden patio with amazing coffee, wrapped in Draco's big, fluffy bathrobe and recently out of a luxury jet shower were all excellent contributions to this idea. But mainly it was because her waiting had paid off. Four times, in fact. The man sitting opposite her had some serious skills in the bedroom. Or, to be exact, in the hall, in the kitchen, in the bedroom and in the shower. She almost blushed thinking about it. She'd thought they were too old for creative settings but she'd been proved wrong. While he had been proved right. It _had_ taken all night. And yet, she felt more well rested on three hours of snatched catnaps than she usually did on eight solid hours of sleep. She felt loose and limber and as if her skin was shining from within. She felt happy in a carefree way she hadn't in a long time when he touched her hand just a second longer than he had to when he passed her her cup.

And after four rounds he looked every bit as delicious as he had before in the warm morning light, his hair still a bit damp from the shower, clad in jeans and, Merlin help her, the grey cashmere jumper. She could smell his soap over the wonderful smell of his skin and it sent little shivers of delight to her stomach, where they quivered and trembled. And it was a good feeling. Those quivers could be stilled, soothed and satisfied. All she had to do was give him glance and his hands could make all of her tremble. It made enjoying how good he looked even better, to just revel in that little dip in her stomach when he stretched and she could glimpse the tight muscles low in his abdomen or when he turned to get bowls and the long muscles in his back pulled and coiled. And along with his lucky genes he was a caring, funny and intelligent man who knew how to do his best by the people around him. Perhaps because they were so few he had gotten exceptional at it. Which was why she felt incredibly pampered as she sat, indulging in the sun, the newly ground coffee mixing it's seductive scent with the blooming flowers as she daydreamed over Draco's build. If life could only be this perfect every day she'd-

"Dad." She sat up straight as Scorpius' voice interrupted her daydreaming. "Ms. Weasley." She quickly checked for any gaping in the bathrobe before summoning a smile.

"Score. Just Ginny is fine."

"Midget. How was your night?"

"Great. Mugged some old ladies, stole some fags, drank some vodka."

"Not straight, I hope. If I teach you anything it's to never drink vodka straight."

"Of course not, we had it in strawberry daiquiris."

"The fact that you think vodka goes in daiquiris comforts a father's heart. Are you hungry?"

"No. Maybe. What do we have?"

"I was thinking of making pancakes for the lady?" He caught her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it.

"Ah…I…" She glanced over to Score to see if he was making gagging noises like her son would but saw nothing but genuine interest in pancakes in his eyes. "I should probably get home to James. He'll be on his own." He'd arrive back and see she wasn't there. He'd be alone. Worse, he'd know where she'd been. She couldn't face having his eyes, the eyes of his dad judging her. Not when everything had been so blissful earlier this day.

"Bring him over, we'll all have pancakes." It'd be so easy, she realized. Bring James, take part in the well-adjusted family Draco had – be a part of it. She swallowed. That wasn't what she was after. She'd just managed to make sure she and James could stand on their own, she couldn't give that up. It was too fast. She'd known Draco – well, grown-up Draco – four weeks and here she was, sitting in his garden wishing she could wake up with him tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. Feeling that she wanted to bring her son into the picture, share the moment with him and Score.

"I really should get home." Draco didn't fuss but she saw a fleeting note of question in his eyes before he recovered.

"I still get pancakes, right?" Score piped up. She suddenly saw what Draco meant when he said they were a unit. Easing the tension, letting his dad focus on something else, they were there for each other. She couldn't really be part of that, wouldn't dare risk doing anything that would break it. That was another reason to leave. Standing, she put down her cup.

"I'll call you."

o.O.o

The next day she wondered if she had gone insane. Why would she leave someplace because it was too perfect? Who did that? It wasn't as if he'd suggested she'd stay forever, he'd just asked her to stay for bloody pancakes. With her son. But she knew that she could never forgive herself if James got attached and if things didn't work out between them. She didn't want to bereave him of another male figure in his life. _Oh yes, James is getting too attached_, a snide voice spoke in her head.

"Sweetheart, you're going to scrub that potato down to a nub if you don't give it a rest." Startled, Ginny looked up from the sink where she was standing scrubbing the potatoes they were going to have for dinner, by hand, no less, since she'd been looking for a way to vent some frustration. It had been between that and picking a fight with one of her brothers. It would have been easy with all six of them in the house for Sunday dinner but she'd opted for the potatoes to have more time to think.

"Right…I was just preoccupied." Reaching for a fresh potato her mother sent her a sideways look as she went to stir the pot on the stove and Ginny knew she could try her very best and still not be able to fool her mother.

"Is there something on your mind?"

"No. Yes. I just…" She hadn't told her family about Draco yet and had instructed James to not mention it either, uncertain of how to approach the topic. Malfoys were in general a sore subject in the Weasley household and the fact that she was dating one would _not_ be cause of celebration, she knew. Still, there was no advice she valued more than that of her mother. "When did you know you were going to marry dad?" Molly nodded in satisfaction over the casserole in the pot and turned towards her, wiping her hands on her apron as she smiled.

"After the first time we went out. He was in sixth year and I was in fifth and he took me to Three Broomsticks and…" Ginny smiled, she had heard the story countless times, of how her parents had "met" (gotten stuck in detention together, her dad had confided after indulging in one more glass than his usual two of Susie's Sorcerers' Sherry) and gone on a date in Hogsmeade. Molly's voice trailed back in her mind.

"So I laid there in bed thinking, now there, Molly Prewett, is a thoroughly decent man, you better catch him before someone else does. Not that I told him that, mind you. A man likes to think he worked for it." Ginny relaxed slightly as her mother hummed along with the radio. If her mother had known she was going to marry Arthur Weasley at fifteen after knowing him a week, she wasn't too fast in thinking she'd like to spend a foreseeable future with Draco after four, was she?

"Mum, I'm seeing someone."

"I know, dear."

"You do?" How? Had James told on her? She'd thought they'd had an understanding, and okay it had cost her the bribe of two games but maybe-

"You think I'm blind, young lady? You've been floating around on clouds ever since you came to get that rose plant. Even your daddy noticed you were happier, said you look like a beam of sunshine every morning when you come into work." Ginny relaxed. James hadn't told and her family didn't know who it was. "I'm glad of it."

"You are?" She'd been sure her mother would be disappointed; she knew Molly was not-so-secretly hoping she would get back together with Harry.

"Of course I am." Molly put a hand on her cheek, the familiar dry warmth of it and the smell of rosemary and tea that would always be the scents she associated with her mum brought her back in time, made her feel like a little girl again. "I know we were hard on you when you and Harry split up. It's just difficult since he's been a part of this family since he was eleven, it felt natural that the two of you were going to get married and be together forever."

"I thought you blamed me."  
"I'm sorry we made you feel that way. There are always two people in a marriage, it takes two people to make one and two people to break one. I don't blame either of you. And I'm sorry it takes you looking happy now for me to realize you've been unhappy for a long time."

"It's okay, mum." Ginny mumbled as the soothing balm of her mother's understanding smoothed some of the jagged edges of pain she carried over her failed marriage.

"No, it's not okay. I'm your mother, I should know when my children are in pain."

"Mum, you're the best mother anyone could have. You could win competitions. Give classes." Molly smiled and moved away to direct her kitchen implements to make a salad with her wand.

"Speaking of which, how did you manage to get through to James? I haven't seen him this happy since…" Her sentence trailed off. Since before the divorce.

"I got some sound advice from another single parent."

"Good. It's about time too, I've been sitting on my hands to not give that boy a whack over the ear with my spoon."

"I was ready to ask you to. I just didn't know what to do. But then I thought I had to fix this myself, if I'm going to manage raising James as a single parent."

"And you're doing a great job of it. Now, do I have to get the pliers and pull it out of you or are you going to tell me who it is you're seeing?"

"You're seeing somebody?" Katie Bell-Weasley had stopped in the doorway and was now grinning madly. "Who is it? Spill!" Moving as quickly as her highly pregnant form allowed she sat down at the table, her chocolate brown eyes twinkling in curiosity as she waited for Ginny to respond.

"I don't-"

"Is there any tea on the go?" The second former-Gryffindor-chaser-cum-married-to-a-Weasley-twin-sister-in-law wandered in.

"Hey, Angie, Ginny is just about to tell us about the man she's seeing."

"Ooh, really?" Sitting down with the exact same grin on her face as her pregnant friend, she waited expectantly. With horror, Ginny could only imagine the look on Katie's face if she said she was dating the man who had nearly killed her, even if it had been under duress and an accident.

"Well, I…"

"There you are, Katie, I think Andy is about to fall asleep on his feet, I figure we double team and make him have a nap?" Fred's cheerful voice interrupted her as Katie just waved her hand dismissively.

"In a minute. Ginny was just going to tell us who she's been seeing."

"Who has Ginny been seeing?" She was about to break down and either laugh or cry hysterically as George wandered in after his brother.

"It doesn't matter, okay? It's early days, I don't want to jinx it." The twins looked at each other with matching identical grins.

"So she's ashamed of him. Who do you think, George? Fudge? Hagrid?"

"Slughorn, definitely. Oh, or maybe Lockheart."

"That would be cause for concern. Ginny, is it someone who is now or has previously been the Minister of Magic?" Trust her brothers to turn it into a joke. Sadly, it was a joke that lasted through the whole evening, every suggestion thrown her way making her wince. Because she knew that none of their suggestions would make them react worse than how they would to the real thing. And it pained her. Because he was trying so hard to move away from what he had been and she was unsure her family would be able to see it.

But then, as she watched Ron bend over Hugo's shoulder as he played chess with Bill and Fleur's son Dominique, saw the same look in his eyes as she'd seen countless times in Draco's when he looked at his son she knew that whatever Draco had been, he wasn't anymore. She believed he'd changed and that would have to be enough for her family too. As much as she loved her family, she couldn't live her life exactly the way they wanted her to anymore than she could live with Harry and let his life dictate what she could do and when. She was thirty-two and responsible for her own choices. She knew from the very bottom of her heart that no matter what happened between them, Draco would never hurt James, never turn away if he needed anything. Attention, comfort or just someone to talk to, he would always have time for him, she was sure of it. And that settled it for her. Any man who she could be sure of that as well as his interest in her was worth her family disapproving of.

o.O.o

_For a Gryffindor you sure are a coward, Ginny Weasley_, she told herself as she stood outside his door. Then she gathered her courage and knocked on his door. He opened and as usual her heart tripped a little in her chest. He was so beautiful, his hair just a tad disheveled, as if he'd been running his hand though it. His wide shoulders looked so inviting under his soft sweater, as if they could support her when she needed it. And she rarely did, but to know it was comforting. Even his hands were beautiful, with wide palms and long fingers, the hands of a sculptor, or a violinist. Hands that brought beauty to the world. And that face, the shadows of the hall carving it in sharp detail, making her think he looked more like an archangel than ever. He lifted an eyebrow and smiled at her. Maybe more of a fallen angel.

"Hi."

"Hi. Could I…Can I come in?" He stepped back and let her in. "Where's Score?"

"In his room, I would guess. Killing orcs like there is no tomorr-" She interrupted him by grabbing the front of his shirt and hauling him close, pressing her lips against his. Without hesitation he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissed her back. After a few moments Ginny pulled back and cleared her throat.

"I…I came to, well, to do that, cause I've been wanting to and…" She pulled at her sleeves. "And to say sorry for yesterday morning. I…I shouldn't have just run off." He leaned back against the wall.

"Why did you?" Ginny crossed her arms over her chest. She felt vulnerable under his gaze, as if she'd been stripped of her skin.

"It's…I…I worried about James."

"You worried about James what? Being home alone?"

"No. No, he's…getting attached." His eyes narrowed and she thought she saw a glint of humor in them but in the dusk of the hall it was hard to tell.

"James is?"

"Yes. And…well…If, if we don't make it then he'll be devastated."

"_James_ will be devastated? Ginny, why did you really go?" She slumped and stared into the wall next to his head.

"I was scared!"

"Scared? Why?" She ran a hand through her own hair and felt her temper rise.

"Because I think I'm falling in love with you. Happy?" She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and slumped again.

"Actually, yes." He pushed off the wall and put a hand under her chin. "I wouldn't want to be the only one." She blinked in surprise and met his gaze.

"Really?"

"How could I resist?" A smile broke out on her face as tears clogged her throat.

"You are one smooth talker, Draco Malfoy."

"Not to mention handsome and charming." The tears faded and a bubbling, tumbling joy spread inside her.

"Well, I have good taste."

"I can't fault it."

"I left because I got scared. This…" She gestured between them. "Is scary."

"I believe that's how you know it's real."

"So clever, too. I _do_ have good taste." He brought her close.

"I'd say we both do."

"So…James is staying with Bill and Fleur tonight, he wanted to hang out with his cousins."

"So you're free, then?"

"I am."

"Come on up?"

"I'd love to."

o.O.o

Score slunk back into his room as his dad led Ginny by the hand up the stairs. His heart was twisting and his stomach felt tight with balled up, hot tears. His dad had found it, the happiness he'd been missing and Score felt as if he'd been left behind. He wanted his dad to be happy but he'd never thought it would hurt so much to share the space in his dad's heart with someone else. At the same time a bubble of happiness was lodged under his breastbone. His dad and Ginny had looked so…right. So connected, somehow, as they climbed the stairs together. As if they had done it thousands of times before. As if they were sure they'd do it a thousand more.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed that and that I kept all scenes within the rating. As always, thank you for reading and a special thank you to my reviewers:

Nova81: Wow, thank you! Bring on all the gushing, I can take it :) It's great to find that you agree with me about Harry, he isn't a bad person and he has made his choice. We'll see more of him later on, see if he's still happy with what he chose…Score is kind of my favorite too, so lots more of him! I'm so glad you like my story and that you tell me exactly what you like to see, it's really helpful when I write new chapters. Keep on reading and hopefully enjoying!

Guest1: The family will find out, Harry too, in time. How they handle it you'll have to wait and see ;)

Guest2: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!

SareerMalfoy: Symbiosis is a beautiful thing, indeed. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. Blaise is back, and I think Teddy may make an appearance in the next chapter. I really glad to hear what you like, so I can incorporate it when I write. It's good to know I please my reviewers since they make me so happy!

Nutmeg44: I can try, can't I? We'll see how Scorpius deals with their relationship as it progresses, I'm quite excited to find out myself as it sort of comes to me as I write…Also can't wait for when the boys leave – _whatever_ will Draco and Ginny get up to? Thank you for your review, it always makes my day :)

Hatebelow: He is rather adorable…I like him a lot too and I think once James adjusts a bit he'll be nicer too. And I think Score will be a part of him coming to terms with it all. We will see! I'm really glad you're reading and enjoying and a thousand thanks for your review!

Aldrean Treu Peri: Me too. It's sweet how they are always there for each other. And James and Score will have some more time to get to know each other better as the story progresses. I'm really glad you enjoyed it and thank you for your sweet review!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry! I'm sorry it took forever! I have been kicking at this chapter for weeks and it's finally in publishable shape. I hope you enjoy and if you left a review you'll find your response at the end of the chapter. Onwards!

Her breathing was quiet and even and convinced him she was asleep. It left him to freely peruse her features. Relaxed in sleep, with her fiery curls spread over the pillow she looked younger, closer to the girl she'd been. The girl he'd wanted so desperately. And still, that want had paled compared to how he needed the woman she was now. The girl of his dreams had turned into the woman he wanted to be his reality. His everyday.

He wanted to wake up with her and bring her coffee. To see the moment her sleep-clouded eyes cleared and focused on him, warmed in a smile. Hand her her toothbrush as she rushed around to get ready for work. He wanted to come home to her, smell her scent the second he got in, see her coat on the hanger. Hear her talking to their sons, turning to welcome him when they heard his steps. They didn't seem like big dreams, unless you considered the time it'd take to get there. They had just started seeing each other, had just admitted they were falling for each other. The second time around for both of them, with double the amount of baggage they'd had the first.

Ginny had come over earlier in the evening, confessing she was scared, that famous Gryffindor bravery forcing her to honesty. He was too much of a Slytherin still to have had admitted that even to himself before she came over. For the past weeks he had imagined they were really good friends who held a burning, spitting, positively roaring attraction for each other and could maybe be more in time. If he noticed some flutterings in the vicinity of his heart he'd blamed remnants of the rosy dream she had once been to him. The truth of the matter, he realized now, was that he was absolutely terrified, to the very depths of his soul because never before had something, or rather someone meant as much to him, except for his son. It was the sort of caring that put a coil around your throat and then pulled, tighter and tighter. At the same time it lit a light in your stomach, a warm, bright light that grew and grew and between that and the cord pulling your throat shut it had nowhere to escape but filled you, spread into your very fingertips, leaving you completely filled with the emotions.

It was not an altogether pleasant experience to care so much, so soon for a former Slytherin. He sat up and leaned against the headboard. Not that he defined himself by his school house anymore but he wasn't accustomed to falling, and hadn't been able to even imagine it could be at once so quick and so complete.

He reached over and twirled a strand of her curls between his fingers. It was soft and cool, running like silk over his fingers. How often had he dreamed of doing the same during his last school year? The thought of her had been at once his sanctuary and his personal purgatory. She had been the one thing that had made him feel slightly alive. Sometimes from the joy seeing her produced in him, sometimes from the pain she caused him. She was the one thing that had made a heart slowly turning into stone warm and twist, to swell in delight and shrivel in despair. Swell at the sight of her, something deep inside tugging towards her, lifting and filling with light when he heard her laugh float across the Great Hall to reach him. Shrivel and sink when he saw her hand linger on just a moment too long on Potter's sleeve, her eyes always dancing, seeking his in shared laughter. Feel his heart heat in dark glee as the glance went unanswered and the hand obliviously ignored.

The rest of the time it had been mostly hardened and would have been slowly polished into cold marble by the steady pour of cold poison over it. The Dark Lord's, his father's, his own. But the war had ended while there was still a soft core behind roughly cracked, hardened stone. It had taken a long time to chisel the hardness away and his son and the Montrelli's had done most of the work. Still, his heart remembered the weight of the stone, the coldness of living in the shadow of the knowledge that you were not who you imagined you were. Who you wanted to be. Never again did he want to look in the mirror and meet his own eyes in disgust.

He let his eyes trail over her shape. The rounded shoulder, a few freckles sprinkling the pale skin like a dusting of gold flakes, the sensual curve down to her narrow waist, the delectable climb to the fullness of her hip, only slightly rounder than in her youth. The pale, flawless skin highlighted by the light grey of his sheets, the duvet slung low on her hips.

To finally have the dream within reach, grasping the mirage after so long had made him feel as if he wasn't really worth it. Who was he to lay claim on a woman like her? He had been an accomplice in murder by letting the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. He had heard the prisoners in the dungeons of his home, had made himself blind, deaf and dumb. He had buried his head in the sand and prayed for an end to it all without ever doing anything to make it so. He had been a coward.

His son had paid for that for every day of his life, would he then lay the same burden on Ginny? They had skimmed over the details on their dates, he had told her what he had been and she had understood. Had said she understood he had done it for his family. But he had done it for more than that. Initially he had done it for his father's approval, for recognition, for power. Only later had the hunger for power and approval turned into sickening fear for his parents' lives and his own.

Impatiently he got out of bed, tugging on sweatpants and a soft long sleeved t-shirt before heading downstairs. What use was it to find reasons for what he had done? He'd done it and he couldn't go back and change it. Wasn't sure he'd be able to. He'd have to go as far back as his father's childhood to change what had passed, if not as far back as the beginnings of the Malfoys. He was as helpless to change it now as he had been then. The memories of it rose in his mind, the memory of fearing for his parents' lives, of not having eaten for days, of not having slept properly without getting woken up by nightmares for weeks, and miserably meeting the defeated look in his own grey eyes every time he looked in the mirror. The only comfort, if it could be termed that, the high-pitched, trembling, sugary voice of a ghost half a century old with romantic delusions about all males who entered the bathroom she resided in. The same hopelessness at his helplessness to change anything raged in him now. The same futile anger. If he could only have been a little more like Potter, damn the moron for always being what Draco wasn't. At first he'd hated him for having what he hadn't. Friends, popularity, fame. Now he envied him his unbiased upbringing, for entering the war with no lies having been spun around him since birth. Perhaps if he had had that he would have been able to tear himself away, would have seen earlier.

Draco sighed and entered the kitchen. It was hardly Potter's fault that he'd been born a Malfoy, hardly his fault Draco had done as the Dark Lord had bid him.

"You're up late." Draco was shocked out his train of thought at the sound of his son's voice. Score was sitting at the kitchen island in the dark, a glass of milk in front of him. His hair was getting long, Draco thought distractedly as he sat down opposite. The dark hair fell past his ears and in reflex Score tossed his head to get the fringe out of his eyes.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Me either."

"Any particular reason?" Score opened his mouth but seemed to change his mind and shrugged.

"Nah."

"Are you trying to nobly protect my happiness by pretending it doesn't bother you that Ginny is sleeping here?" Score sent him a glance under his long fringe before smiling.

"Pretty much." He spun the glass slowly, the soft grating noise of it against the stone counter the only thing that could be heard while Draco waited for his son to continue. "I…I like her, I like seeing you happy, I just…It's just different. Things are going to be different, I guess."

"I suppose they will. You might get the house to yourself a few more nights a week and there'll sometimes be a woman's coat in the hall. Some nights we'll hang out all three, or four if you and James are up for it and my phone contact list will have one more friend on it. But in the important things, Score, nothing changes. You'll still always come first to me. If you need me, I'll drop everything, you know that and Ginny knows that too." He saw his son valiantly blinking away tears and nudged him. "Get that, midget?"

Score sniffled and then snorted.

"I won't be shorter than you forever, you know. What are you going to call me then?"

"Freakishly tall son of mine? I might shorten it to Freakish in time."

"Gee, thanks." Score rolled his eyes and had a sip of milk. "So why can't you sleep?"

"Deep thoughts."

"I've told you again and again, you don't have the brain capacity for those. You might actually hurt yourself."

"I actually might call you freakishly unfunny son of mine."

"Come on, I told, those are the rules." Draco sighed. However much he wanted to protect Score he was right. They had promised to tell each other a long time ago. He couldn't let anything change that.

"I guess I was thinking that since people…make things hard for you because of me, they might do the same for Ginny if we…If things continue as they are. You're pretty much stuck with me, I'm your dad. But she doesn't have to be…associated with me. She could still find someone..."

"Sometimes you really are as dense as uncle Blaise says."

"What?" Score ran a hand through his hair in a gesture so reminding him of himself he wanted to laugh.

"Well, first of all, don't you think she's considered that already? She did know you at school, she saw whatever it is you think you were. She has a son and whomever she brings into her life, she brings into his, so she was to consider it extra carefully. Secondly, whatever you did back then it made you into who you are now – my dad. Which I think is a pretty good deal and I will take whatever crap the kids at school throw at me because I know you are who you are now because of it. I bet she feels the same if she really cares about you. If she doesn't then she doesn't really understand who you are. So, there." He stood and the adult he had been for a moment seemed to evaporate in seconds until he was the boy Draco knew again. It made it all the more clear his son was growing up, rapidly turning into a little man. A pretty smart one, as it seemed.

"I…suppose you have a point."

"I always do. Goodnight."  
"Goodnight." Sitting in the dark he mulled over his son's words and came to conclusion he was right about some things. Whatever he had once been it had been the first step towards who he was now. What he had been had taught him the worth of it. He would never underestimate the love of his son or the value of a woman like Ginny falling for him. It had taught him the importance of family of loyalty, of love. Ginny knew what he had been and she was falling for the man he was now, the man who had learned form his mistakes. That was all he had to be to her. Himself. The man who would never again accept being ashamed of what he saw when he met his own eyes in the mirror.

Getting up he headed back up the stairs to his bed and to her, the girl of his dreams who had turned into the woman of his reality.

o.O.o

Ginny heard Score get up and hurriedly tiptoed back up the stairs, sneaking into the bedroom before either of the Malfoys had noticed she'd been out of bed. Her heart ached for the boy Draco had been who had been so lonely and had no one to turn to and it bled for the man who was more worried about his past causing her pain than the jagged tears it was ripping inside him. 

o.O.o

Ginny wondered if there wasn't magic at work at the Zabini-Lovegood house. Though it was in the middle of a busy residential district they had what looked like a large Tudor cottage with a garden that gave the impression of being in the countryside. Draco's house was in a sizeable garden procured by an amount of money she couldn't even imagine. This garden seemed to be procured solely by magic and it broke about ten regulations she could think of at the top of her head. "_Obvious display of magic or otherwise unrealistic features to Muggles_" being the top one. But she was also impressed, wondering what Muggles actually saw when they passed this house and it's big garden.

"It looks just like the other ones next to it to Muggles. Luna's spellwork."

"It's impressive. How do they keep their Muggle liaison in the dark?"

"He probably wouldn't notice if they let their children ride on brooms and made all food out in the garden by conjuring it, wildly waving their wands, making their lawn furniture gallop and all the while shouting they were wizards at the top of their lungs."

"They have Francis, don't they?" She only knew of one colleague who'd let a breach this big escape him. You're not here to work, she told herself. What was the harm as long as the spell held to only show another terraced house?  
"Maybe. I only know him as Mr. Armpit from Blaise."

"Yeah, that sounds like Francis."

"He sounds charming." Draco knocked as Ginny glanced around, admiring the imagination that had been used to create the garden. After a few moments a woman opened the door. She was a bit taller than Ginny herself, with a willowy frame dressed in a floaty dress. Around her slender neck hung a necklace made from butterbeer corks and at her ears dangled earrings in the shape of silver quills. She had a pretty face in an ethereal way with pale, almost translucent skin, high, rounded cheekbones, a pointed chin and eyes a color somewhere between sky blue and the silver of her earrings. Over her shoulder a thick braid of light blonde hair hung and looking closer Ginny saw that bits and bobs were stuck into the braid for handiness. She could spot two scribbled notes, a stub of a pencil, a sprig of herbs and two shiny blue feathers. Round her heavily pregnant stomach an apron with smiling hedgehogs was tied, a wand sticking out of the front pocket.

"Draco!" The woman smiled and opened her arms wide. Draco bent at the waist to avoid jostling her stomach and Ginny smiled. It was so cute how men thought they could break something in there purely by touching it. The woman in the apron hugged him back, her eyes warm before she stepped back, a hand resting on top of the mound of her belly.

"Ginny, it's so nice to see you again. You've aged very well." She'd known it was Luna from the butterbeer corks but had otherwise had a hard time to guess this slender, pretty woman could be the Luna she remembered from school, a memory mostly dominated by huge eyes that seemed to blink less than others and a heavy curtain of dirty blonde hair. But the longer she looked the easier she found it to reconcile the two images.

"Luna. So have you, you look wonderful."

"I'm glad you think so. Come on in." They entered a hall that opened into a large space consisting of kitchen, dining room and living area all at once. At one end were stairs leading to a second floor and at the other was a door leading out to a paved patio. Ginny could easily spot the personalities of both Luna and Blaise in the rooms, the discreet, sleek, elegant urbanite tastes of Blaise's mixing with the eclectic, dreamy pastel-colored bohemian touches that had to be Luna's.

Suddenly the room was filled with noise as two small figures rushed down the stairs and across the room before attaching themselves to Draco.

"Uncle Draco, uncle Draco!" The two girls were obviously twins as they were copies of each other, with their father's coloring, Ginny guessed. Both had a coffee and cream complexion with long, shiny curls of black hair and amber eyes. But there ended the similarities as one was wearing what looked like a three piece suit in green velvet and the other was wearing a ladies t-shirt that reached her knees with the Ramones logo and a pair of pink, glittery fairy wings. The one in the maroon t-shirt climbed Draco's leg, agile as a monkey and he pulled her up to settle comfortably on his hip.

"Reena broke a picture and I lost a tooth, and it was an expensive picture and she got yelled at and in three days it's my birthday and I'm going to be five," she said in one breath as her twin spoke simultaneously while pulling at Draco's trouser leg,

"I found a bumblebee house and Daddy says I can't go near it but I have to cause I want a bumblebee and Lu says it's stupid cause you can't have a pet that's an insect but I think she's stupid. Bumblebees are furry so they can be pets and in three days it's my birthday and will you get me a present?"

"These are my daughters, Rowena and Lucy. Reena, Lu, this is Ginny, she'll be eating with us today."

"I'm Rowena, I'm four and when I grow up I'm going to be a lawyer like Daddy." She held put a little hand Ginny bent and shook it.

"It's nice to meet you Rowena, I'm Ginny, I work at the Ministry."

"Being a lawyer is boring, you just sit at a desk and look at papers." Lucy piped up, "When I grow up I'm going to be a fairy. Or a dolphin."

"That's stupid, you can't be a dolphin, you're a person."

"Nu-uh, you're stupider cause-" Luna, hearing in the way mothers do that a real brawl was brewing due to low blood sugar, interrupted.

"Podpeas, why don't we see if we can find some juice?" Fight forgotten the two twins raced to the kitchen as Luna motioned for them to come in as she followed her daughters.

"Pod-what-now?" Ginny whispered in question as they went into the kitchen area.

"Podpeas, as in alike as two peas in a pod."

"Oh, right. That's cute."

"Sure is. So are those two mini tornados. When they're not hungry. They're beasts when they're hungry, like their dad. Speaking of…" The patio door opened and Ginny's eyes widened. Blaise Zabini had been a good-looking boy at school but the man was a different matter entirely. He looked like a modern day pirate, his complexion an almost bronze and his slanted eyes the color of syrup and brandy with dark hair curling loosely, falling in stylish carelessness over his brow. His eyelashes were long and dark, his shoulders wide, his hips narrow and though as tall as Draco he was a tiny bit leaner, his body more that of a fencer. He was dressed in black jeans and a deep red sweater edging towards rusty brown with an open waistcoat slung over it and looked as if he'd just stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine. All in all Ginny thought all that was missing was the guns and the rapier and he'd be the very image of 17th century Caribbean pirate. He smiled when he spotted her and held out his hand as he walked over and she thought there was quite a bit of aristocrat there as well. A runaway aristocrat, a sugar lord taking to the high seas perhaps, seeking love and adventure, going where the winds took him, setting course for the horizon and…She shook her head. What on earth was she doing weaving idiotic fantasies over the man's pretty face?

"Ginny, it's great to see you again. Well, to meet you properly, I suppose, I don't think we ran in the same circles at school." There was a humorous glint in his eyes as he said it as if he was very well aware they had disliked each other on principle back then. "And may I say, you look fantastic. Are you sure you can't do better than this sad specimen here?" Ginny smiled as it wasn't hard to hear the affection in the tone.

"It's nice to meet you properly too. Draco's told me so much about you."

"All lies and I'm going to sue him for slander next week."

"Is that what we're doing next week? You never tell me things."

"That's because _I_ don't want to get sued for slander. Ginny, can I get you something to drink? We have anything that can be conjured, and that to perfection as Luna was a swot at school."

"That's Ravenclaw, dear." Luna spoke up from the counter where the twins were drinking juice and poking at some apple slices.

"Ah, I always get the two mixed up."

"That's funny, I always get the word Slytherin mixed up with dreary." Draco laughed as Blaise smiled sweetly at his wife.

"Nice one, Luna. Could I have a beer please? Unless you'd like to go to mine and get one for me, Blaise?"

"It does hold its appeal. For once you wouldn't be there."

"If you want to avoid me, why do you come to my house?"

"I-"

"Boys, why don't you go out on the patio and grill that food? Ginny would you mind helping me make salad? Peapods, play corner till dinner time."

"You okay on your own?" Draco whispered to her and Ginny nodded with a smile. She knew what was coming. Female friend of long time single man friend meant Luna had to check to see if she was okay. She understood it and had been the female friend herself on occasion.

"Sure, we will go out and be manly and grill. Later, little women." Blaise sent a dazzling smile in their direction before the two of them left, beers in hand. The twins slunk off their chairs and settled in what was obviously their play area in the living room, easily told from the toys spread around in that corner.

"They'll go on forever if you don't interrupt them. Sometimes I think they prefer insulting each other to breathing."

"They probably do." Luna laughed.

"True. So, what did you want to drink? I can conjure a pretty nice cabernet if you want wine?"

"Oh, I don't want to tempt you when you're pregnant."

"It's okay, I don't miss it too much. This time around. With the twins I craved wine and olives. This one seems to like pudding and grape juice. At least I can have both of those. Blaise buys it by the bucket at Costco now."

"With James I couldn't get enough of hot dogs. All times of the day, every meal I could've eaten a hot dog." But she'd gotten most of those herself. Though Harry had been home more then she'd felt bad disturbing him when he was sleeping or finally getting some time off so she'd gone herself.

"Here you are." Luna put down a glass of red wine in front of her and she poured a tall glass of grape juice for herself. "I'm just going to sit at the counter and mix some salad. Would you mind cutting the tomatoes? My back's a bit achy today."

"Of course. Go sit." Luna went around the kitchen island and heaved herself up on a chair, sighing in contentment as the weight was taken off her back. Ginny found herself a cutting board and a knife and set to work. After a few moments of silence, Luna said,

"So, how is he in bed?" Ginny almost dropped the knife she was holding.

"Luna!"

"What?" Her dreamy voice grew amused. "It's an important part of any relationship. If it doesn't work the relationship won't. And the second best thing to having it is talking about it." Ginny made sure no one was close before she laughed.

"Merlin!"

"Why? Is it that bad? I wouldn't have thought so, he looks strong enough and his aura is very masculine. It's-"

"No, no, it's not bad. It's great. Beyond great."

"Beyond great? How?" Luna rested a hand on the mound of her stomach. Ginny took a sip and wine and narrowed her eyes.

"Did Blaise put you up to this so he can find out how Draco is in bed?" Luna smiled.

"No. Though it would be quite like him. To try, I mean. I don't let Blaise put me up to things that breaks confidences."

"Of course not, I'm sorry I implied that."

"Don't worry. I can tell the sex is good from looking at you. Your aura is all deep rose."

"Meaning?" Luna leaned her elbows on the counter, which she had to lean rather far to do with her pregnant belly in the way.

"Usually romantic involvement and a deep, sated sexual charge."

"Right. And…Well, what's Draco's?"

"Quite similar, with the more brownish notes of a deeper attachment. I'd say he's either felt for you longer or feels more at the moment. Which is why I ask you about the sex. It's the most primal way we interact with each other in today's world and how we do can tell more about a person than hours of talking. I like Draco. I want to be sure you take him and his feelings for you seriously." The dreamy tone went to primly Ravenclaw lecturing and then slid into an almost stern note. Ginny nodded in understanding. Harry had always found Luna random but the truth was that she approached subjects from a different direction than most, not in a random way, always with a point, one that was really clear in her own mind. One that usually became clear to you after a while of wondering what the heck you were talking about. That much Ginny had realized back at school. Still, they had never been really close, mainly because she had been preoccupied with Harry. What Harry was doing. What she should be doing to help, what else he could be needing at any moment. She didn't resent that, it was how teenage girls in love behaved, but sometimes she wondered what she'd missed in her single-mindedness.

"I see. I feel that we have a connection beyond the sex, though it is fantastic, and that given time we could maybe have something real. But I need time. So does he."

"That's much more comforting than details about your sex life. Tough not quite as fun." Ginny laughed.

"True." Feeling as if they'd established a connection Ginny fumbled for the words of the questions she'd been wanting to ask. "So…I…Well, I heard…In Malfoy Manor, you…"

"You want to ask how I can be friends with Draco after I was a prisoner at the Manor." Luna sipped her juice delicately.

"Ah, well…I…yes. I mean, I feel bad asking it of him, I know it pains him." She glanced out through the glass doors to the patio to see Draco amusedly watching Blaise poke at a bag of charcoal. He looked so easy, so happy and yet only a few days ago she'd heard the pain he hid underneath in his voice as he spoke to his son. She didn't want to cause him more by asking.

"He was as much a prisoner in that house as I was. He didn't have anything to do with me getting captured or keeping me in there. There may not have been any chains you could see to lock him in but he was trapped too. Voldemort kept a tight watch on his parents, just waiting for him to make a wrong move so he could kill them." Luna put the knife down and wiped her hands on the apron before neatly folding them on her lap. "I could hear some of it, from the guards talking and sometimes from raised voices. He threatened to make Draco watch as he'd torture and kill his parents. That he'd cast Imperio on him and make him do it himself. To prove he could kill once and for all. Draco didn't hurt us, but his hands were tied, he couldn't help without endangering his parents. Still, he'd send food sometimes. The other prisoners thought it was house elves preferring us to the Death Eaters but I knew. Harry had told me about Dobby so I knew no ordinary Malfoy house elf would do anything against the rules without bidding." Ginny shuddered as Luna's dreamy voice trailed around the homey kitchen, the children's drawings on the fridge and the ticking of the cow-shaped cooking timer making the talk of war, death and torture seem even darker by comparison. "Why, do you blame him for what he did during the war?" Ginny shook her head,

"No. No, I know he was under extreme pressure. I can hardly imagine how he must've felt to have to choose between the lives of his parents' or those of his schoolmates. He was just a boy. He's come so far since. In…In a way it's how Score put it, Draco wouldn't be who he is today if he hadn't been that boy before." Luna nodded in satisfaction and rose again.

"He's a wise boy and you're smart to listen to the person who knows Draco best. Now, what have you been up to the last fifteen years?"

o.O.o

"Why are we standing out here?" Draco sat on the low stonewall enclosing the patio of the Zabini-Lovegood residence. Taking a sip of his beer Draco sent Blaise a sideways look. He knew where this was going already.

"To barbecue."

"What idiot came up with that idea? It's bloody freezing."

"You did."

"Well, I was operating under the false impression that it was summer."

"It is summer."

"Are you insane? It's a penguin habitat out here. Polar bears have warmer gardens."

"So? Wear a sweater. Man up, Zabini." Blaise frowned petulantly.

"I don't give a damn about being manly and grilling outside in all weathers." He poked at the unlit coals from a bag and wrinkled his nose. "Let's be girls and go inside and order take-away."

"You're willing to sacrifice your manhood to go inside and be warm?"

"Well, not my actual, you know, manhood. But metaphorically speaking, hell yes. I already have a wife and kids. I have nothing more to prove when it comes to manhood."

"Except for proving you're not a wuss."

"Fine, I'm a wuss. I'd rather be a warm wuss. Let's go inside."

"You're no fun when you're grumpy."

"My blood sugar's low. Another reason to get take-out. Feed me."

"_You_ invited _me_ over for dinner."

"I'm perishing. I'm wasting away. I feel life slipping away."

"My best friend, the Drama King of the Greater London Area, ladies and gentlemen."

"You forgot "protector of the realm", you're always getting my title wrong. I should have you drawn and quartered."

"Then who would keep you in beer?"  
"True. That is the main reason you've lived so long."

"You're too gracious, my liege."

"I know. It's one of my very few failings. Now let's go inside, cretin."

"You're willing to face your wife saying you didn't make food because it was too cold?" Innocently Draco looked away while Blaise's brow clouded over.

"Do you have a lighter?" he grumbled. Draco smiled at his friend's reaction before replying,

"I do, it's called a wand and it's a simple enough spell for you to manage."

"Work, work, work, nag, nag, nag." But Blaise's lips twitched as he lazily flicked his wand, setting the coals ablaze. "So, Weasley's still pretty hot." Draco arched a brow.

"You don't say?"

"Fine, she's probably even a bit hotter. That's not the real mystery here. The real puzzle is what she sees in you?" Before he could let the insult fly back he checked himself. Though they rarely engaged in anything but dirt slinging there were few things he couldn't talk about with Blaise.

"You know, I wonder about that myself." Sending him a sideways glance as he turned the grilling chicken breasts over Blaise took a pull from his beer. His tawny eyes seemed to grow a bit colder as he looked out over the garden before answering.

"Dray, everyone who has eyes in their heads can see you're not the same person you were. Hell, if you were I doubt either of us would be in this garden right now. I'd probably be off chasing after some twenty-one-year-old wondering why I never felt happy. You'd probably be dead or nursing an ulcer in that drafty hellhole your parents insist is a home." Draco winced and grimaced.

"You're going to give me delusions of grandeur here, thinking my presence has affected you so deeply."

"I have said it again and again. You really are an idiot. Give the people around you some credit, Dray. Give _Ginny_ some credit. She sees who you are now when she looks at you. You're the only one who constantly sees the ghost of your past. That boy is dead, give him a decent burial already." Draco put his empty beer down and crossed his arms over his chest. For a while silence reigned, the snapping of the coals and the wind whispering through the trees the only sound that could be heard.

"I hate you when you're right."

"You must hate me constantly, then." Draco sent him a glance, knowing his thanks was evident when he replied,

"I do." With a smirk Blaise nodded and toasted him with his beer.

"Now, let's eat before I lose a pant size."

A/N: Thank you so much for reading and a special thank you to all my lovely reviewers!

Electric guurl: Thanks you, I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's an AU to be sure, both plot wise and the liberties I've taken with the Muggle world and Magic world growing closer. I hope you keep reading an enjoying!

BlackRose851: Thank you, I'm so happy you're still here and still enjoying!

Nutmeg44: I'm so flattered you like it so much! Score and Ginny will have their heart to heart to be sure, but I think Draco and James may actually make it before…I'll see, as it never turns out the way I plan it anyhow. I hope you get at least half as excited by my updates as I get by receiving reviews ;)

Nova.81: Lots of Blaise and Draco for you in this one. I sometimes worry about dragging it out too long but their voices just seem to be in my head…I really like Ginny's bit too, you have to be brave to let yourself fall in love. Score, James and Harry assorted Weasleys are all definitely turning up in the future to deal with the new couple. I can't wait myself...Thank you for taking the time to review, I love hearing what it is you like :)

Stephanie: Thank you, I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

Pizzigirl: It's great to see you're still around, I hope you keep reading and enjoying!

FandomTakeover: I'm happy you like it and thank you for reviewing!

Guest: I'm positively gushing you like my style of writing, I hope you'll keep enjoying and thank your reviewing!

Evanesco-Muffliato: Happy belated birthday! I like Blaise myself, he's funny and he seems to live in my head…Welcome to the wonderful ship of Draco/Ginny by the way, I'm honored to be the first story of this pairing you read. I hope you keep reading and enjoying and thank you for your review!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Welcome back! I hope you will enjoy and if you reviewed you can find your reply at the bottom.

Ginny fought back a splitting headache as she pressed her fingers to her closed eyes, her son's hurt look still floating, seemingly etched to her retinas.

"We are going to keep seeing each other, James. That's all we've said. Nothing more, nothing less." She had been two minutes late home, getting held up by the offer of pancakes this time and then a long, sultry kiss at Draco's Apparition point and so James had arrived home before her, easily discovering she hadn't slept in her bed that night.

"You're trying to replace dad with him!"

"I'm not, sweetie. I'm not ready for anything like that." She had tried to convey her feelings, how alone she had been, how happy she was to share something with someone again but James had taken it wrong. Very wrong.  
"But you love him!"

"I…Well, no, I…"

"You've been sleeping with him. You said you only do that with people you love." The temper she tried desperately to control lashed.

"That is absolutely none of your business, James Sirius Potter!" Ginny drew a breath and ran a hand through her hair, searching for the right words, the words that would ease the pain in her son's eyes. "I care for him - a lot - and I respect him as he does me. We are both adults and we get to choose who we…who we are intimate with. It's between Draco and I."

"Fine, just don't try to make him my dad!"

"I'm not trying to-"

"Then why are we always there?"

"When you care about someone you want to be with them, James."  
"Than how can you say dad cares for me?" Uh-oh, she thought. That had been careless of her. Deciding to switch quickly from the question she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I thought you liked being there? With the big TV and the great garden?" She saw the words "that has nothing to do with it!" in his stance and recognized it from arguing with his dad.

"You're just there to force us to be a family. Well, I don't want a new one, I had one, before _you ruined it_!" He spun on his heel and ran up the stairs and Ginny felt the words hit, twist and sink deeper. Slouching against the wall she sunk down to sit leaned against it. When her phone rang she answered mechanically.

"What's wrong?" was his first question and she let any pretense fall.

"Fight. James. Big one."

"Go on."

"James thinks I'm trying to replace Harry with you." To her surprise she felt the tears start falling. She rarely cried, and she had never felt comfortable crying in front of Harry. He had been too closed in, kept everything bottled up and she'd felt embarrassed to not do the same. But as she let the tears run hot over her cheeks she found she didn't mind if Draco heard it.

"I see. Big uh-oh indeed." She managed a snort.

"Kind of."

"It's only normal that he's defensive, Ginny. You've just made him see you two could maybe be a unit he can rely on and now it's changing."

"I know, I know. I…maybe it's not such a good idea to…to see each other so much. I don't know…" She heard papers rustle as he got up and realized he must still be at work.

"Ginny, listen to me. If it's bad for James, if he's suffering, then we'll dial it down, I promise you. But first, would you let me talk to him?"

"I don't think he'd really appreciate it, Draco."

"I know, he doesn't want to let me in his life. But I have an inkling he'd see me differently if he talked to just me. Would you let me?" There were three things she was certain of in life - her parents were the ideal couple, redheads should never wear pink and Draco would handle her son with care.

"I guess. Sure."

A few minutes later he appeared, the first button in his shirt undone and his sleeves rolled up. After a quick searching look he opened his arms and for the first time in years Ginny leaned on someone else. Feeling his arms around her she let her shoulders relax. For a few minutes they just stood in the hall and Ginny marveled again how the man always knew when to speak and when to just be there. Stepping back she ran a hand through her hair and wiped the last tears from her cheeks.

"Thank you. I needed that."

"Happy to. Do you need anything else? Cuddle, talk, shot of vodka?" She laughed and shook her head.

"No, I think I'm good."

"Sure?"

"Yes, I'll be fine."

"Okay, I'm venturing up then. Wish me luck." Standing up on her toes she pressed her lips to his.

"Luck."

"I feel pretty lucky." He winked at her and then walked up the stairs. Hoping he'd put that teenager whisper talent he had to use she went into the kitchen.

o.O.o

Draco entered the room after knocking, recognizing all the signs of teenage displeasure. The curtains were drawn, James was a curled up ball under the covers and music was loud and surging over the speakers. Waving his wand to make it a bit quieter, without committing the faux pas that was turning it off, he ventured inside. Deciding there was no point in beating around the bush, he said,

"Your mum said you're not happy we're seeing each other." There was no reply and patiently he sat down on the heaps of clothes that covered the armchair. From experience he knew there were mostly clean clothes waiting endlessly to be put in their rightful place there.

"I know that it's a shock and that it feels fast to you. I know that you miss your dad and wish above all else that he would be here." He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "The only thing I'm wondering is why you were okay with your mum and I seeing each other until now." He settled in to wait, knowing fully well that James didn't think he really wanted to hear the answer. But his days as a Slytherin enabled him to read Gryffindors like an open book and his days as father of a teenager made sure he had the patience of a god. He could wait. In the end it was a shorter wait than he'd anticipated when James spoke, his voice seeming almost disembodied as he stayed curled up in a ball under the covers.

"I didn't think you'd actually stay. I thought if she went out with you a few times she'd realize my dad was what she really wanted. And he'd come back and…" He heard James manfully struggle against the sobs.

"Your mum will always love your dad, because she always has and even more because he is your dad. You look exactly like him, you know." Except for his eyes, those were his mum's. "And he will always love you. But he is…" _Easy now, Malfoy_. "He has always been who you want to turn to when you're in trouble, and it says a lot about him that he's willing to give up the two things he loves most to be that person." And damn, he wished he could punch him in the face for it when he knew how it pained the man's son to take second place.

"I wish he weren't."

"I bet." A surprised laugh escaped James. He stifled quickly, but Draco had caught it.

"Everyone always says I should count myself lucky that my dad is like that."

"Everyone maybe, but it sucks for you. Listen, James, I know I can never replace your dad, I wouldn't even want to try. But I hope that you'd at least consider me for the role of friend, or you know, adult guidance."

"Guidance in what?"

"Oh, you know, what bands you should listen to, how to ace potions and how to talk to girls. Stuff you can't ask your mum. That's what I'd be here for."

"How to talk to girls?" James sat up in bed and Draco thanked the teenage hormones that forced them to consider any option involving the opposite sex.

"That's right. I was fairly successful in my Hogwarts days."

"Yeah? Did you date the prettiest girl in school?"

"No. But I am now."

"What about the second prettiest?" Draco struggled to keep a smile off his features at the predictability of teenage boys' interest in girls.

"Sure." Date was a loosely applied term he supposed, and fooling around in the second floor broom closet would probably count. "Sarah McKinley."

"The underwear model?" Draco suddenly regretted bringing that particular conquest up. He doubted James' mum would be thrilled to find out he'd slept with her or that he'd told her son about it. _Dated_, he reminded himself, _dated_.

"Ah, right, is that what she does now?" James' eyes were wide as saucers and Draco cleared his throat. "Anyway. I think this guidance should start right now. I know just what to do. There is an urgent need for Man Night."

"Man Night?"

"That's right. I will show you the way young grasshopper, the path to becoming a man starts with Man Night."

"It does?"

"Sure. We'll go to mine and only do manly things."

"Aren't you going out with mum?"

"Well, we can put it on hold for an emergency. This seems like one to me." James seemed shocked for a moment that anyone would put anything on hold to be with him and Draco cursed Potter for his ill advised compulsion to save the world.

"I guess…"

"Great. Pull on a sweater and let's go." Reaching the bottom of the stairs he saw Ginny's eyes widen in surprise before she carefully rearranged her features to normal.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"Yes, we're going to mine for Man Night."

"Man Night?"

"That's right. No women allowed." He winked and amused, Ginny leaned back against the kitchen counter.

"Okay. Far be it from me to intrude on this most sacred of rituals."

"Thank you for your understanding."

"May I just ask what it entails before I send my only son off to it?"

"Barbecuing, drinking straight form the can and leaving the toilet seat up. Man stuff. You wouldn't understand." Her eyes dancing with laughter now she pushed off the counter.

"Right. Okay. Well have fun, men." She refrained from touching James but she would be damned if he got to dictate everything she did. So she stood on her toes and pressed a peck to Draco's cheek, whispering, "If he's too much trouble, just send him home."

"As if." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Now, let's go be men, James."

o.O.o

"Okay, let me just make a few calls." They were sitting in Draco's car and James wondered what had possessed him to come with. He didn't want to hang out with Draco more than he did already. He wanted to see him less and still, here he was in the man's seriously awesome car and…He crossed his arms over his chest. Well, the car was awesome, that didn't mean he had to like being there. After a few minutes they swung into the parking lot of the supermarket and James sighed.

Errands. Were there any adults who didn't always want to run errands? When he was a grown-up he wouldn't ever run errands. He'd remember what it was like to not be allowed to do _anything_ and do all that stuff, everyday.

"We need supplies. Let's find a cart." Trudging after Draco he noted the man shopped nothing like his mother. She would carefully compare all purchases; consider the contents and the price before placing it in the cart. Draco was tossing things into the cart, seemingly at random, no list glued to his hand. He wasn't reading any labels or checking the prices. Suddenly inspired, James reached out and grabbed a bag of barbecue crisps. His mum would never let him have the cool bag when there were cheaper, exactly the same ones next to them in a dull, plain bag. All Draco said was,

"Great, toss them in. See if you can find some dip. And none of those little packages or low calorie stuff." James set off and found a dip sauce sold in a bucket. Hesitating between the bucket and the family size one he shrugged and hefted up the bucket. Returning with it Draco nodded approvingly. "Now that's what I'm talking about." Standing in the soft drink aisle he was putting some Coke in the rapidly filling cart.

"What's your poison? Score won't drink anything but Coke."

"I like Sprite." Then his mother's stern face appeared before his eyes. "But Coke is fine."

"Nope, on Man Night each man has whatever he prefers. Except for tequila. Blaise can't handle it. He overshares something vicious when he has it. It's forever banned in the house. My heart can't take more confessions." James didn't know what tequila was but his heart warmed when Draco called him a man. Standing up a bit straighter he put his Sprite in the cart.

"Okay, I think we have it all." Pushing the overloaded cart ahead of him James slowed down as they passed the sweets aisle. Casting Draco a look under his lashes he wondered if the older man would think he was childish for really wanting gummy worms. He slowed to a halt and fingered the bag.

"Do you…Do you think these are okay to eat on Man Night?" Draco left the cart and came back and James held the sweets up. Draco scrutinized the label full of crawling worms.

"Gross," he said, "cool." Happy he had found something Draco deemed cool he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Do they have wine gums? I like wine gums."

"They're for old people." James wrinkled his nose in distaste and didn't realize what he'd said until it was out of his mouth. Waiting for the lecture he stared at his shoes. But Draco just laughed.

"Well, I am old so give me a break." He found the bag and James heart did a double beat. That was the tone he used when he talked to Score. Thinking what Score would do he said,

"Aren't you going to complain they stick in your false teeth?"

"You little comedian," he lounged and caught James under his arm, jokingly cuffing him over the head. James laughed and struggled half-heartedly. It felt different from playing around with his uncles or his mum, and it made his heart swell a little. To be pressed against Draco's side under his arm he felt muscles and angles press against him. Even the smell was different, more like his dad but still not quite the same. "Say that again, I dare you, tadpole!" He drilled a finger in James' side and breathless from laughter he managed,

"I give, I give!"

"Say please!"

"Never!"

"I'll break you eventually, rascal." Letting go of each other they grinned and slinging an arm around James' shoulders, Draco continued. "Now will you help me support my frail bones to the checkout, youngling?"

Back in the car Draco turned the music up loud and was tapping his fingers on the wheel to the beat. James sneaked a look at him, wondering if this was what it was like. Doing stuff with your dad. Nothing special, not an outing or an occasion, just being together doing normal things. Like grocery shopping. It had been pretty cool. Draco didn't treat him like he was nine years old, like his dad did. Feeling suddenly disloyal for thinking, even for a moment that he wished his dad was a bit more like Draco, he answered curtly when he asked if James liked the new Dungeon Crawlers album.

"It's all right, I guess." It was awesome, especially the guitar solo during Midnight Broomride. He'd listened to it on repeat for two weeks.

"I love it. The guitar solo in Witchy Wench is the best in the last ten years."

"No way. It's not even close to the Midnight Broomride one." Draco grinned and cast him a sideways glance.

"I knew you liked the album. You have too good taste not to." James heart beat a little faster in pride and afraid it'd show he looked out the window.

"Okay, we're here." Pulling into the garage and putting the brake in Draco turned the music off and got out. In the silence James suddenly felt nervous. He'd hung out with Score and Draco and his mum before, and with just Score but never with Draco. _Don't be a baby_, he told himself and got out. Turning around the end of the car his quick reflexes saved him from getting a bag of charcoal slammed into his chest.

"Carry that, will you?" Without asking if he could manage Draco gathered up the rest of the bags and set off, all in one trip as his mum would never do in fear of dropping things. Manfully, he hauled the bag higher and followed into the house. Entering through the utility room they went into the kitchen and dropping the grocery bags on the table Draco pulled a few cans out of them before gesturing for James to follow into the garden. Going out through the glass door he found Score, Teddy and a man he had never seen before on the patio.

The man spotted them first from where he was lounging in a chair.

"There you are. I'm about to starve to death." Teddy and Score looked up from where they were sitting on the trestle table, their feet on the bench. No one was telling them to take them off it.

"Welcome, James, to Man Night. You already know Score and Teddy obviously and this is Blaise Zabini, a sorry excuse for a man who I invite out of pity."

o.O.o

Poking through the bags Blaise wrinkled his nose.

"Is there nothing remotely healthy in here?" Draco turned one of the steaks and watched amusedly as the teenagers huddled at the trestle table, clearly suspicious of the concept still.

"No. Tonight is all about full fat, all protein, a mountain of carbohydrates. Oh, and dessert."

"I always knew you wanted to kill me. I can feel my veins clogging from hearing you talk about it."

"That's just your lazy blood not having the will to snail around your lazy body."

"No, I know that feeling, that happens to me every day. This is different. Is there any Diet Sprite?"

"There will be no diet anything on Man Night."

"What? Do you know how many calories there are in regular soda? It's an hour on the treadmill per can."  
"Will you stop embarrassing me? There will be no talk of calories on Man Night. If James hears you he'll get the wrong idea."

"You just have antiquated ideas about manhood. Also, didn't we barbecue just two weeks ago?"

"Barbecuing is the manliest form of cooking."  
"What is with your sudden obsession with being masculine?" Making sure the boys couldn't overhear him he leaned closer.

"I just had to think of something quickly to make James feel included. He's been testy with Ginny, mainly because he feels left out, I think. I figured if we could find something we have in common things would be easier. For everyone."  
"And you went for the lowest common denominator – being a man? Don't you have more in common than both being in possession of a penis?"  
"I wouldn't know, Zabini, I've barely spoken to the kid alone. Now will you stop complaining and play nice for the boy?" As Draco knew it would Blaise's sympathy for the boy won over whatever complaint he'd think of next.

"Fine, fine. Well, I better get over there and show them what being a man is all about." Swaggering over to the trestle table Draco watched amusedly and shook his head as Blaise adopted an affected John Wayne type stance.

"Score, can you get the stereo and carry it out and pick some music and don't let Uncle Blaise anywhere close or we'll be stuck with easy listening for the over thirties. James and Teddy, could you start setting the table?"

"That means opening the plastic containers," Blaise added helpfully. "I'll go grab more drinks."

o.O.o

When the knock resounded Ginny put her glass down and wondered if it was Draco who was coming to beg for mercy. But the blonde on the other side of the door was definitely of the female variety.

"Luna? Is everything all right?"

"Yes, certainly. The twins are at a sleepover and Blaise got pulled out to a Man Night and I found myself longing for company. Do you mind?"

"Not at all. Come on in."

"Thank you. I like your house. It's so small." Ginny chuckled, sensing no critique in Luna's words. She simply liked the house because it was tiny.

"It is. You may not fit." It was Luna's turn to laugh and she patted her pregnant belly.

"Only one way to find out. I know it's not twins this time but my belly seems to be unaware. The baby has to have a spacious three bedroom in there." Walking into the kitchen Luna set down her purse (which looked to be made out of an afghan dog or a blonde muppet) on the table and pulled out a bottle of the wine she had conjured the other night, the label of her own making with little red birds drawn in a sure hand. Next followed a carton of grape juice and some small Tupperware boxes containing from what Ginny could see nuts, pudding, what looked like seaweed, chocolate and a sloshing green liquid.

"What's all this?"

"Well, I think if the boys get to Man Night, we get to have Women's Night." It was just like Luna to not refer to it as Girls' Night. "Who did you fight with?"

"Pardon?"

"You have a worry line here," she pointed to the spot between her eyebrows and continued, "and your eyelids are tense. Looks like a fight to me." Surprised as always how someone who seemed to spend most of her time in her own mind could be so perceptive Ginny rubbed the spot where the "angry wrinkle" was apparently showing.

"James. He's not too happy about Draco and I seeing so much of each other. Maybe we are. I don't know." Luna waved her wand and two glasses danced over from the cupboard.

"James' idea of too much is probably being within a square mile of each other. Ginny, if it's like you say and he doesn't get much attention from Harry then he probably feels he only gets attention from you and that attention is now suddenly divided between him and Draco. I think more than minding your relationship fighting is a sure way of getting your attention." Accepting the glass Luna offered, Ginny had a sip.

"You always were wise, Luna."

"Cheers to that. Will you tell Blaise? He sometimes forgets I'm always right." The telling Blaise part was a joke, Ginny could tell, but the "always right" part seemed to be serious. Hiding a smile behind her glass, Ginny nodded.

Three glasses of wine later Ginny thought she could definitely count Luna among her circle of friends now. Though she was used to the more conventional approach of exchanging confidences to become closer friends with women she simply felt at ease with Luna. She didn't judge or lecture, or act superior. She was a great listener and her sympathy was more implied than overt, which Ginny thought felt more real than any loud outbursts.

"Do you ever get jealous… when you're out with Blaise and women are, you know, checking him out?"

"Not really. They're just looking at his outside. I know his inside. If they got to see that I'd be jealous. One of the first things that attracted me to him was that he would only let me see the real him."

"I guess you're right."

"Besides, Blaise isn't particularly fond of his looks."

"What?" How was that possible? The man was one of the most perfect specimens she had ever seen.

"Don't get me wrong, he's not above using them for what he wants and he considers them a tool to use, one he enjoys having at his disposal but he dislikes being immediately judged because of it. Most people, especially women get an instant idea what he will be like and because he's a person, not a character from a novel, he rarely matches it. Hence, people are disappointed with who he really is." Wasn't that a match made in heaven, Ginny thought? The man with the face of a poet had found the one woman who didn't give a whit for what he looked like.

"Did he tell you that?"

"He doesn't have to." Did that come with time, Ginny wondered, or were there just some lucky matches that surpassed words? Sighing, she wondered if what she had with Draco was the beginning of it. She rarely had to tell him what mood she was in, he seemed to be sensitive to the barest of hints and sensed what she needed.

"How do you think Man Night is going?"

o.O.o

James sat down next to Blaise on the low deck chair. They'd been playing poker, Draco had taught him, and playing for wine gums James was not too sad to fold early in the second game. The garden was growing cooler as the sun had set but the sky was still bright and the flowers were growing more fragrant.

"Did your dad have Man Night with you?" Blaise smiled and had a sip from his beer. Draco and Blaise had switched from soft drinks after dinner and James felt a bit jealous, not because it smelled like it would be very tasty but for how it seemed to be something grown men did. He wanted to have a beer and be a man too.

"No, I never met my dad. He passed away before I was born. My mum had five different men I was supposed to call dad during growing up with a few I was allowed to call by their first names in between."

"Oh. Five?"

"My mother's a busy woman." Wanting desperately to ask if he had hated it James looked away. He'd only met Blaise today. "The way I see it, we have two families. We have the one we're born with, which we can't choose. Then we have the one we make for ourselves, made up of friends, partners, children. If you're lucky, like the Weasleys are, the two blend. If you're less lucky, like me, they blend, but more like oil and water. They don't really go together. My mother likes Luna but she'll never understand her, or me for that matter, or the life we lead. We're happy to meet but it's not our favorite thing in the world. Then, if you're really unlucky, you get Draco's case. His two didn't blend at all and in the end both the one he was born with and the one he made for himself was ruined. Draco's parents died without ever forgiving him for moving to the Muggle side and they only met Score once. The family he made for himself fell apart when Daphne left and he had to start over. Now he has me, Luna and Score. We're his family. It's not as big as yours but it suits us." Blaise took another sip of beer and looked over to where Draco was raising, tossing more wine gums onto the pile in the middle of the table. "And since he's met your mum he's slowly beginning to believe that he could maybe have a whole family again one day. Draco takes family seriously, James, he's been too unhappy with his not to." Feeling embarrassed he had accused his mum of trying to be a family with Draco James wondered if Blaise was right and you could have more than one. He could maybe still have his own dad as his family and have a second one where Draco could be his friend. Maybe.

"Did…Did Draco's dad…Was he around much?"

"Too much, I'm afraid. Lucius Malfoy was a…hard man. He wasn't evil like people say. He was cold and he valued the wrong things in life and he raised Draco to be his copy. Draco grew up believing money, status and power were the only important things in life. He's come a long way since."

"Mum said he was a prat at school." Blaise laughed.

"To put it mildly, yes. He was also a kid who never knew anything else. No one blames himself more than Draco but I think it takes a special person to change the whole way you are. Imagine if you had to realize your mum, your dad, your grandparents were all evil, everything they had ever told you or taught you was a lie. Everything you knew about how to treat people, how to be, all the way down to the very way you think was wrong and everyone looked at you like you're scum for not knowing it." Swallowing James realized he couldn't imagine it. Was that what Draco had gone through?

Teddy got up from the table, smiling and shaking his head. Coming over, Blaise got up and gave James a pat on the shoulder.

"Growing up takes a while and you don't have to hurry but the way to become a man is to be brave enough to take the first step." Steering for the house he called something rude to Draco who just laughed and shook his head. Teddy took Blaise's place and sent him a sideways look.

His friend was beginning to look like a grown-up, James noted, surprised. He was fifteen now and would start his fifth year at Hogwarts in the fall. Though there was two years between them they had always been friends, Teddy never pulling back when he realized it was uncool to hang with younger kids. To James he had been a welcome constant in his life. He had straggly brown hair that was always falling into his eyes, the color of rich chocolate. His face was narrow, with high cheekbones, a high brow and ascetic features. James had overheard Victoire saying he looked like a cross between an academic and a rock star.

"That looked like a pretty serious conversation." Teddy leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Jealously James noted how the muscles in his back stretched under his jumper.

"I guess. Blaise is pretty cool, though." Teddy nodded.

"He is. I like Draco too." There was no opinion James valued higher than Teddy's so he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. I just…"

"Don't know if you like him enough to be with your mum?" They'd always shared a bond as Teddy had grown up without his parents and James' dad was rarely around.

"Mm. I mean I can see he makes her happy but…My dad made her happy. When he was there," he conceded.

"No one gets it better than I, Jamie, but if you had the choice of being happy sometimes or all the time, what would you choose?" Looking up to see Draco loudly complain Score had cheated James was pretty sure what he would choose.

"I don't have to cheat playing you, dad, I can beat you anyhow."

"I taught you too well, midget." Draco gently cuffed him over the head and the pride shone in his eyes. For a wild moment James wished Draco would look at him the same way before he looked away and squashed the urge. He had a dad.

"James, Teddy, you in for another round?"

"You bet," Teddy said and following him to the table James wondered why he couldn't dislike Draco, no matter how hard he tried.

o.O.o

No one had told him to wear a jacket, or to turn the music down or to stop eating when he was full. No one told him he couldn't have one more soda or had to go to bed. It was freedom and yet he sensed that under it lay responsibility for yourself. For the first time he went to bed of his own volition because he wanted to be alert the next day. He put on a jacket because he was cold. He stopped eating because he felt sick. It was a both liberating and sobering experience. Coming in the morning after he spotted his mum at the kitchen table in her bathrobe.

"How was Man Night?"

"Fine."

"Did you eat?"

"Yeah."

"Did you stay up too late?"  
"No."

"…Well, what did you do?"

"That's a secret." Finally a smile escaped him.

A/N: I hope you liked it! Thank you for reading and as usual a big hug to anyone who reviewed, always makes my day, guys!

jbodaneze: I'm really glad you like the Blaise and Draco interactions, I find those the easiest to write! I have the Ginny and Score bonding experience planned so it's on it's way and we'll get some mum moments in it. I'm so glad you like it and thank you for reviewing!

BlackRose851: I love them too. I wish they would live in my house instead of my head. Handsome entertainment is my favorite kind. So happy to see you're still here and enjoying!

Nutmeg44: I inspire happy dances at desks? It's possibly the best compliment I have ever had :D Tried to get some more friend time in there for Ginny this time and some relief from her bad conscience. I agree she should have a world outside of her family. Score and Ginny quality time is coming up and as always, more Draco and Blaise. Thank you so much for reviewing, it always makes me so happy!

pizziagirl: Thank you and great to still see you here!

FandomTakeover: Thank you, I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I'm sorry the updates aren't more often but RL is a pain in my butt!

SareerMalfoy: I'm so happy you liked it! I really enjoyed writing the Lovegood-Zabini house, I bet they have fun times there. Score and Ginny are coming up and Weasleys will appear before too long. But I'm thinking of adding some more old friends first…Maybe. Managed to squeeze a bit of Teddy in there for you, hope he's everything you hoped him to be. Hope to see you next time!

Nova.8: Thank you! I'm glad you liked the descriptions of Draco's struggle, I was a bit worried they were getting a bit too much. I enjoy writing Blaise a lot, he's funny and it's no hardship to see him in my mind's eye either ;) I am dragging it out a little bit because I enjoy writing this story so much, I don't want it to end until everyone's said what they have to say. It should be a while…Thank you so much for reviewing and I hope to see you next time!

Lady Mischief: Thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying it. I'm wondering about that too, we'll see when she works up the courage to bring him to the Burrow…

Nookazaba: Oh, it's coming. Harry is still a ways off (he's so darn busy) but his reaction should be worth the wait (I hope!). Thank you for reviewing!

ChocChipCookies123: Wow, thank you! I hope James came into his own a bit more in this chapter, though I must say I find it easier to write Score. Thank you for reviewing!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry! I have been fighting with this chapter for weeks and it is not listening to me. So as a punishment I am now sending it out in the cold to be on its own. See how it likes that. In any case I hope you will still enjoy it though I had to struggle a bit with it! Thanks for all your lovely reviews and follows, they encourage me to keep going when I want to kick my computer! If you reviewed last chapter find your reply at the end. For now, onwards!

Draco stared up at the ceiling as he tried to force his sluggish brain into comprehending what had just happened. Deciding starting from the beginning was best he thought back to the previous morning when he had woken up feeling awful. His throat was clogged and sore, his nose hot and dry and his head feeling swollen and empty. At first he had merely been insulted. He hadn't been ill in years; he certainly wasn't going to be now. Then he had dragged himself to the kitchen and found himself exhausted by the short walk down the stairs. After slowly making it back to bed he'd had to face the truth. He was ill. Possibly dying if how he felt was any indication. After not being able to muster any energy to inform anyone of his imminent demise he had fallen asleep and been out for several hours. After that he had managed to stay awake an impressive three hours on the couch before sleep took him once more and he woke up to find it to be the next morning. Despite the time that he had spent passed out asleep he could sense no noticeable improvement of his state.

Annoyed, his brain kicked back in gear. He was sick. Still, and already wishing he could take more than the recommended dosage of Ibuprofen. A loud buzz interrupted his sulking and he found himself in a slightly better mood seeing a text from Ginny. Answering that he wasn't too well he suddenly noticed the date on the phone screen and groaned. He had completely forgotten. The quidditch match he was taking Score to was that same afternoon.

"You still look like crap." As if sensing his thoughts Score had appeared in the doorway. Dressed in baggy trousers and a T-Shirt of Draco's that made his slim arms look even skinnier, he slouched uncharacteristically, as if he knew already.

"Not too weird, I feel like it." Score stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the doorframe.

"So I guess I'm flying solo for the match. James and Teddy are busy today and Uncle Blaise has that big case in court."

"Nice try, but I am not letting you go by yourself to a quidditch match between the Falmouth Falcons and the Montrose Magpies." Not until hell and possibly the entire stand of spectators froze over. The two teams were notorious for having rowdy supporters and Score was too young to Apparate away should anything happen.

"_Da-ad! _It's the semi-finals for the Cup, I _can't_ miss it." Score straightened up from leaning against the doorjamb, his hands now clenched at his sides.

"Maybe I'll feel better later." _Please, god,_ he added, in his mind.

"What if you don't?"  
"Then you'll have to settle for the radio, I'm afraid. Score, I'm sorry, I didn't plan for this to happen."  
"I can't miss it, I _have_ to go. I'm _thirteen_, I'll be okay."

"Score-" The patience his son rarely tried wore thin but the interruption that followed was more welcome.

"I'll take him." Ginny spoke as she came whirling out of the fireplace, the green flames dissipating as quickly as they had appeared.

"I'm sorry?"

"I said-" Ginny withdrew her wand and neatly vanished the ash she had tracked in. "I'll take him. I'm happy to, it's the semi-finals after all and the Magpies have been really hungry for victory this year."

"I…I'm…." His son began and Draco could see Scorpius struggle between wanting to go, even with Ginny. In the end the wish to see the match he had waited for months to see won. "Montrose will never win. The Falcons have Bolt." Score claimed, referring to the Center Chaser of the Falmouth Falcons, Christopher "Bolt" Bolton. Ginny tilted her head.

"He's good, but he's just one person. The Magpies have a Keeper-Beater-Chaser interaction that borders on telepathic."

"That will never win the match." Ginny smiled and arched a brow.

"I guess we'll see. In fact - I bet you a sickle the Magpies will win."

"You're on." With that Score left and Draco wasn't entirely sure in what mood.

"You poor thing," Ginny crooned and set down the bags he now noticed she was carrying. Crossing the room to sit on the bed she put a cool hand to his forehead and shook her head disapprovingly, a bit as if he'd done something ridiculous like wear his trousers on his head.

"You don't have to feel obliged, you know." His voice was a bit croaky but Ginny seemed more preoccupied with poking at the sheets, the crumpled tissues and throat lozenges, all the while tutting quietly under her breath.

"Obliged to do what?"  
"Take him to the game." Ginny snorted in amusement and flicked her wand to vanish the crumpled tissues.

"Oh, yes, I am doing it solely out of the goodness of my heart. The fact that it's the semi-final of the British National Cup has noting to do with it. It's been sold out for months, Draco." She shifted on the bed. "And, besides that, I'm looking forward to spending some time with Score. I'd like to get to know him better." _So different_, was all his flu impaired mind could come up with, _so different from Daphne_. She'd never wanted to know her own son, much less anybody else's. "Now, what should we do about you?"

Then for a frightening half hour the normal Ginny was replaced by an efficient, domestic demon that was obsessed with killing viruses.

However scary he couldn't complain when he found himself in clean pajamas, on fresh sheets, a tray holding a bowl of steaming soup, a cup of tea and a bottle of pepper-up potion on his bedside table. Next to it was a box of tissues, a sheet of Ibuprofen and a nasal spray. Gone were all the crumpled tissues, the hot, wrinkled sheets and the closed in smell. Breathing as big of a sigh of relief as he could with his restricted airways he marveled at the sensation of feeling completely taken care of. He couldn't actually remember the last time anyone had actually fussed over him when he was sick. At the Manor it had been the elves frightened rustling around, or his mother's simpering, ineffectual fluttering. He had never actually lived with the Montrelli's though he was sure Maria would have the same, warm, efficient way of taking care of someone as Ginny. Daphne had not had an ounce of it and had lacked the empathy to ever imagine herself in someone else's shoes. She would, however decorative, have been the worst person thinkable to attend a sickbed. In fact, his whole life he had been surrounded by women who never had been measured in a purely aesthetic manner. The woves of the men his father had socialized with had all been beautiful. Beautiful and shallow, like paper dolls, empty of substance and thought, as interesting as paper once it crumpled. It was just one more way he found Ginny endlessly fascinating, she was so far from the insipid veneered trophies he had known so many women to be growing up. Ginny was indeed beautiful, but she was also caring, warm and brave. Smart, funny and exciting. It was such a different experience falling for her he wondered if he had ever been in love with Daphne at all.

Hearing the door shut downstairs he hoped his son and he were alike enough for Score to enjoy spending some time with Ginny. Had he not been sick he would have probably spent the time pacing and wondering if either Score or Ginny would send an SOS call first. But in his state he could only stay awake another ten minutes of worrying before sleep claimed him yet again.

o.O.o

The stadium was filled with the expectation Ginny remembered from the games she'd been to, and the ones she'd played. Sitting in the locker rooms, the feeling of it had seeped in from outside, easily transferred in the buzz of noise, the shuffle of thousands of feet, the mix of hundreds of voices. It had set butterflies circling in her stomach. Butterflies that had crowded and fluttered and however uncomfortable they felt she'd known they made her play better. It had once made her think that Harry would have made a great professional quidditch player as he performed so well under stress. Then again, he probably had more stress at his work as an Auror already, though of the more unhealthy variety. Sighing internally, she wished for the millionth time he would get to have more fun. Though he was not on her list of favorites at the moment she always would love him and wished him the best. And she thought the best thing for him would be to just let go a little. Not shoulder the burdens of everyone around him.

To chase away the lingering disappointment of what her life hadn't turned out to be that quidditch stadiums somehow always gave her, she turned to the boy next to her.

"Good turnout today."

"I guess." She tilted her head. It was probably the least polite she'd ever heard him be and internally she smiled. Finally they might get somewhere, if he just let go of that impeccably polite front.

"It'll make everyone play better. Nerves and all." He held out for thirty seconds of silence and she gave him points for stubbornness. That was something Weasleys understood and appreciated. She thought it a sign of character.

"Were you? Nervous, when you used to play, I mean." Leaning back in her seat Ginny tried to make the orange plastic chair more comfortable. She'd rather be on a broom out on the field any day than on the non-ergonomic plastic contraption cheerily referred to as a seat.

"Oh yes, terribly so. I always thought if I ever stopped being nervous that'd be the time to stop playing. It'd mean I didn't care as much anymore. Or so I thought."

"Did you care when you had to stop?"

"I did. But not as much as I thought I would. Quidditch is a dangerous sport and I couldn't imagine a justification to continue once I had James. I miss it sometimes, the excitement, the exhilaration, the adrenaline. But what I got in return is better." Score looked away and Ginny realized his mother had probably not given up as much as a manicure appointment for her son, if what Draco said was anything to go by. And now she'd told him she'd happily given up her career for her son.

"Ah, Score, I…I didn't mean to make it sound like-"

"It's okay. It's how it should be. It's what my dad would do." Ginny smiled and felt her insides grow warm because she knew it was true and he had made sure his son knew too.

"Yes, he would." Then a roar rose around them as the two teams zoomed out on the pitch and they both stood. For the next half hour they were both focused on the game, the speed of it almost too fast to see. At 130-140 to the Falcons a squabble about an offside broke out and after loudly announcing the ref was blind as well as stupid and should get hexed from here to the other side of the pitch, Ginny sank down. Next to her Score was trying not to smile at her outburst. Reining in her temper, after enjoying it for a second longer, the involvement, the adrenaline pumping, she ran a hand through her hair. She thought this might be a good point to start a more serious conversation.

"I know why, you know."

"Know what?"

"I know you think I'm going to hurt Draco. I know you feel like it's your job to make sure he doesn't get hurt again. I know you saw how deeply your mother hurt him, how hard he tried for her." Score crossed his arms and a completely adolescent cross look settled in his eyes.

"I wish he hadn't." Ginny tried to fight the surprise off her face.

"Oh?"

"She never wanted us. She used to smile when I was talking and get this look on her face and I knew she wasn't listening." Ginny knew that look too. Harry had often worn it when playing with James. Frowning, she wondered if James felt the same but wouldn't say. Relieved to be rid of the benevolent neglect. No longer reminded of taking second place in a parent's mind. "She'd forget to pick me up or send someone else. She would pat me on the head and say "maybe later," and leave. And he accepted it for much too long. It's better being just the two us."

"I can understand that."

"You can? Your parents only pretended they loved you too?" The bitterness in his voice was beyond his years and Ginny's heart twisted. How had this woman lived with herself after trampling the feelings of the two people she was supposed to treasure the most? Strangling the anger that wanted to pour out and not help anyone, Ginny cleared her throat.

"No, you're right. I don't know what that's like. My parents are great. I have a large family so I did have to share their attention but there was always someone to listen. I have six brothers and Harry was like a member of the family since he was eleven. We lived squeezed into a house that was only held up by magic. It's great. Your dad used to call it a hovel." She smiled, actually feeling a bit nostalgic about the sarcastic, high-pitched voice of the boy he had been. It was easy to forgive his snide comments knowing the man the boy had grown into.

"Was he…was he really horrible?" Ginny tucked her feet under her to give herself time to search for a diplomatic answer.

"Sometimes. He didn't really pay me much mind, he was more interested in Harry and my brother and Hermione. He could be quite mean to them. But most of all he was really young and had been raised to believe he was the center of the universe. You're meant to be the center of your parent's world but he had been taught to believe he was the master of the universe. So I can't say I liked him much but I can understand how hard it must've been for him as well. Probably better than he knows." Because Lucius Malfoy had singled her out once too and the experience still sent chills down her spine, woke shadows in her dreams, turned them to nightmares in a heartbeat. Draco's father had been ice, clear and sharp, and his flat eyes trained on her had made her feel small and tender and desperately wishing he'd look away. And that had been for the five minutes those eyes had been focused on her. Draco had lived with their cold gaze for a lifetime. Yes, she could easily imagine how you turned out with a skewed view of humanity when Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were your role models.

Score seemed to consider this for a while and Ginny was struck again by how similar the son and the father looked. The pointy features were almost all gone, giving way for chiseled bone structure and the indications of the man who was to come. And if his father was any indication he'd have to fight the girls off with a stick soon.

"Are you in love with my dad?"

"Yes." Ginny tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She didn't think it was the time to lie, not if she wanted to get to know the obviously sharp boy. "Does that bother you?"

"No. Maybe. A little."

"That's fine, I realize that you and your dad are a team. It must be hard to see him care for someone else."

"That's not it. Or not all of it." He crossed his arms over his chest and sank deeper into his orange chair. "I don't want to see him hurt when it doesn't work out."

"Why do you think it won't work out?"

"Well, for one you still haven't told your family about him." She tensed and evasions lined up on the tip of her tongue. They were busy, the timing wasn't right, the Weasleys were a lot to take in. Then she relaxed again.  
"You're right. I want to. I'm not ashamed of him, I'm more worried about how my family will treat him. They don't know him for anything but what he was."

"Don't you have to trust him enough to handle it if you're going to be together?"

"I…You're pretty clever, aren't you?" She sent him a sideways glance.

"I like to think so." He smirked, a copy of his father's, if a bit friendlier, and she shook her head in amusement.

"All right. I'll figure out a way to introduce him." Then the call was finally made in favor of the Falcons and the game picked up again.

o.O.o

Ending up in a burger place with the tension between them eased by talking and enjoying the game that had ended 270-280 to the Montrose Magpies they found a table by the window and sat. Seeing some grudging respect in Score's eyes when she ordered a cheeseburger with everything and extra chips she smiled. She knew more about teenage boys than he would ever imagine so she could easily read the train of thought about her.

"So, are you thinking about something there or are you just a sore loser?"

"I am not! The judge was blind. The snitch catch was clearly a foul."

"Dream on. The judge had 20/20 vision. Just call, just winners."

"I thought you said he was "as blind as he was stupid and should be hexed to the other side of the pitch.""

"That was then. He recovered admirably. It's practically a miracle. He could see the Magpies were clearly better."

"I think you need glasses too."

"At least _I_ have all my mental faculties intact." The laugh escaped Score before he could catch it and with a grin Ginny took a bite of the enormous cheeseburger. Swallowing partly, she asked,

"So, Score, could you explain something to me?"

"What?" The guarded look returned as his eyes narrowed and he lowered the chip he was about to put in his mouth while Ginny continued,

"What's an MMO? James keeps talking about them and I don't know anything about them except for that you can't pause them."

o.O.o

Draco woke up groggily and glanced at the clock. Realizing Score would be back from the game he heaved himself out of bed, gratefully noting his head felt a bit lighter. Dragging himself down the stairs, he heard sounds from the living room and entering, felt his jaw drop. On the floor was Score and Ginny, involved in playing GTA V. Strewn around them were sweet wrappers, glasses and on the table a bowl of popcorn stood forgotten as his son laughed when Ginny sped down an LA highway, police cars hot on her trail. Leaning against the doorjamb he smiled. Of course she would play video games with his son. Would take him to a quidditch game, would feed him and make him laugh. Had he not already been in love with her this image would have done it. Entering he spoke,

"I hope that's not how you drive normally." Turning to smile at him she replied,

"Oh, I don't actually know how to drive a car." To mark her words the pink cabriolet she was driving swerved and smashed nose first into a storefront and exploded to Score's noisy delight.

"Clearly. Let me show you how it's done." He accepted the controller from her and she joined him on the couch. Feeling his brow she said,

"Okay, your fever's down a little. Ten minutes, then it's back to bed." Score choked back a laugh and Draco sent him a mock dark glance.

"For that you're going down, midget. Get your controller." Bringing up the menu system, he continued, "So, who won today?"

"That would be me. I'm a sickle richer." Ginny leaned back on the couch. "If you play your cards right I'll buy you something nice with my winnings. I'm feeling generous today."

"I'm flattered. If you need any hints I could use a new car. My pink one had an accident. Something sporty but not too flashy would be nice." Laughing, Ginny put a hand on his knee and winked at Score.

"Let's see how you handle this pretend car first."

o.O.o

Score climbed up the stairs slowly. Thankfully going to bed had been a staggered process today. His dad had gone up first as he was still ill. A politely pretend-oblivious thirty minutes later Ginny had announced she was going to bed and Score had waited ten minutes in the living room to be sure to not meet her in her pajamas anywhere upstairs. Or some other worse state of undress.

He still wasn't sure what he was supposed to think of Ginny. Or feel. She was nice, and funny and sometimes he forgot she was old enough to be his mum. Then sometimes, when she looked at James, or ran her hand though his hair, he felt something small and broken inside twist a little. He'd never had that. Had thought he'd stopped missing it. It made him feel disloyal to his dad that there was a part of him that wanted it. His dad tried so hard to be everything to him, and Score had always thought that was all he needed. And it was. But there was still things he wished for. And maybe Ginny could be the one to take that place, where the empty wish was.

He had been surprised (and relieved she didn't want to continue their earlier serious discussion) after the game in the restaurant when she had asked about MMOs. Surprised that she would want to know. His mother hadn't cared a whit for what he was interested in or what he did with his time. But Ginny had listened, asked questions and genuinely seemed to want to get to know what he liked. It was strange but not as weird as he'd thought it would be to hang out with her. She was actually pretty fun. If this was what it was like to have a stepmother it wouldn't be too bad, he supposed. Especially if she continued to make his dad happy.

He sat on his bed and let himself fall back. If things continued, that was. Ginny had said she was going to introduce his dad to her family but his mother had said a lot of things too. Score wasn't going to take her word for it. Not until he'd seen proof himself. But, he thought as he turned over on his side, he really, really wanted to believe she would keep it.

o.O.o

Entering Draco's kitchen Ginny was surprised to find he wasn't alone. Still recovering from the flu he'd not seen anyone for days (except for her as she refused to leave him to wallow alone in his misery). A man was standing with his back to her, with dark hair curling over his collar and clad in a tweed jacket. Opposite him, Draco was leaning against the counter, still dressed in the sweatshirt and cotton trousers combo he'd worn for the duration of his illness. Some of his color had started to return and the glazed look was gone from his eyes. The part of her that was her mother nodded internally in approval.

The man standing opposite him seemed to be finishing a story, his deep voice melodious with humor,

"-and then the damn thing blew up!" Still chuckling at the unknown's anecdote, Draco spotted her.

"Ginny, there you are."

"Ginny?" The other man turned and she felt her eyes widen in surprise, imagining she looked rather like a muggle cartoon character.

"_Neville_?" The last time she'd seen him he'd probably been nineteen and had still been the round-faced, slightly pudgy boy she remembered from all her school years.

The man standing in front of her was a little bit shorter than Draco but fit and lean. His face had narrowed and a chiseled bone structure had emerged. His eyes were still a startling blue, his hair still dark but a tad long and his cheeks were covered in stubble, giving him a slightly rumpled look. He was dressed in a tweed jacket, a knitted sweater and corduroy jeans. The overall impression struck somewhere between the boy-next-door and sexy professor. The thought sparked a vague memory that he was now the Herbology professor at Hogwarts.

"It's good to see you, Ginny." Neville had been in Harry's year at school but they'd always gotten along well. As Harry rarely saw anyone besides Ron and Hermione from his school days she hadn't seen Neville since a hastily assembled reunion party two years after the Trio's seventh year. Harry had gone for five minutes and then left an uncomfortable Ginny to hold stilted conversations about the weather with his old school friends.

"And you. You look great. Really great." Neville's lips twitched at her probably rather impolitely surprised tone but he nodded in thanks.

"You do too, you've barely aged at all. I'm…I heard about you and Harry and…ah, sorry to hear it didn't…" The old Neville shone through for a moment as he fumbled for the words and Ginny's heart clenched in recognition when she knew the boy who had taken her to her first dance. He cleared his throat, "Well, I have to be off, Ollie's waiting, but remember to only take the potion once a day, Dray. It was nice to see you, Ginny." With that he left and wide-eyed Ginny turned to Draco.

"You're friends with _Neville Longbottom_?"

"Yes, for a few years now."

"That's so…strange."

"At first maybe. We were among the first to move over to the muggle side. There were some tough adjustments to face. We bonded over that, I suppose."

"Neville works at Hogwarts but lives on the muggle side?"

"He has special dispensation from the school and an Apparition point in his building's elevator."

"Convenient." She hoisted the groceries she'd brought up on the counter.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. Besides, you're still getting better."

"Well, it's much appreciated. I may never want to get better." He squeezed her shoulder in thanks as he still wouldn't kiss her for the risk getting her sick too. Her insistence that if she would get the same flu she would have had it by now had fallen on deaf ears. Taking what she could get she leaned into him for a moment before opening the fridge and beginning to unpack the bags.

"Who's Ollie?"

"Who?"

"Neville mentioned Ollie was waiting."

"Oh, Oliver Wood, Neville's flatmate."

"The live together on the muggle side?" A vague memory of a tall, built boy with reddish-brown hair and determined eyes flashed in her mind's eye.

"Yeah." Draco reached for a glass in the cupboard and filled it with water. "It's not…Well, it's not public knowledge but they're partners. That's why they live on the muggle side." Ginny nodded, knowing fully well that the wizarding world was still behind in some things. Feeling her heart clench in sympathy for Neville she thought she understood the friendship better. Both Draco and Neville must know what feeling alienated and alone was like. Catching his look, she turned to him.

"I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks."

"I can't believe how different he looks now. He's so…"

"Fit?" Draco's lips twitched.

"I was going to say confident." Ginny said primly.

"Sure you were. He's a health nut now. Works out, eats sprouts and smoothies."

"No way."

"I'm not kidding. He went on a juice fast last year and I think Blaise was stunned speechless for ten minutes after he told us." Ginny tried to conjure an image of the shy Gryffindor telling the two former Slytherins about going on a juice fast and came up woefully short.

"Blaise knows him too?"  
"Yeah, they bonded over Italian leather shoes and carb-restriction."

"I hope you're not restricting your carbs. I brought pasta for dinner."

"I make a point to not restrict them. In fact, I like to eat carbs in front of them. I might send Blaise a picture of our dinner later." Ginny laughed as she brought out the fresh tagliatelle. Harry had never done things like that. Something silly, just because it was funny. He would have been better for it, she thought as she watched Draco smile while sending off a picture of the bag of pasta to his friend from his phone. But she was also starting to believe this was how she was better off. With a man who made his friends laugh, his son grow and his family matter. Feeling that she was exactly were she should be in this moment, happiness rose within her like champagne, bubbling and fizzing, as she turned to the stove to magic up boiling water.

A/N: Thank you for reading and a special thanks to my faithful reviewers:

Jbodaneze: I'm so glad you liked it. I really enjoy writing Draco as a father, I feel that he has a strong opinion about them after his own experiences with his dad. Hopefully James will come to see Draco as more of a permanent addition in his life soon. I hope you will continue to enjoy!

BlackRose851: Still so glad to hear it!

Tom Riddle's Old School Things: Thank you!

Nutmeg44: I love seeing my emails that you've been back to review, that's the highlight of my day! I'm glad you didn't feel the bonding was forced, I did worry about that because in a way they are made to hang out with each other. Blaise does have his moments, he's much smarter than he likes to let on :) Luna will be back very soon, I hope you will too!

Blinck22: I think you're very good at it! I liked getting a review from you a lot, they all encourage me to keep going.

Kiss the shadows: They are a fun bunch to write. With time they should mold into a cute family (I hope!). Thank you for reviewing, it's always a great help!

Johan Kira Expelliarmus: Thank you, I'm so happy you like it! More people will find out soon, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out. The stepbrothers will have their moment, too, I'm quite excited to bring just the kids out to play…

Nova.8: Oh, gush all you want, I love reading your encouraging reviews! I'm glad Draco seems believable to you though he is (very) different from what we've seen in the books. I just felt that he was a bit misunderstood throughout and wanted to see if I could make him more relatable. There will be more Luna and more Blaise, I love to play with them too much to stop.

I know what you mean about James as well, my brother is ten years younger than me, sometimes it feels like twenty! It's normal (if irritating!) so I figured I'd put some of it in James. I hope you keep enjoying and that I'll see you next time!

ChocChipCookies123: James is going to have some issues indeed, it's hard to choose between what you feel and what you should feel sometimes! I hope he's going to figure out Draco makes Ginny happy eventually too, we shall see. Thank you for sticking around and reviewing, it makes my day every time!

Hatebelow: I hadn't actually thought of that, that would be an interesting side to explore of Teddy. He may appear again now…Score and James will certainly be in it a lot more!

Mitra Laramie: Thank you! I hope you'll keep finding it interesting :)

Roni2010: Draco and Blaise's interaction is my favorite bit to write so there'll be lots more of that. Thank you for taking the time to review, it's always encouraging!

Guest: Wow, thank you! I'm so flattered you like it so much, it's good to know when I struggle like I did with this chapter. There's definitely more to come!

AmberGreen: Thank you! I hope you'll like this one too and the next one and so on ;)

Pizziagirl: I'm on it, next chapter is planned out already!

El: Reactions are coming, I'm just setting the stage for it in the next one…

Guest # 2: Oh, I have no plans to abandon it, I'm just slow sometimes. Now that this one is over it should be easier with the next one. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

: I'm glad you like it. I enjoy making things a bit different by making them both older (and maybe a bit wiser…) and removing the school rivalry to see what you have left. And lo and behold, it's – ATTRACTION, haha. I'm glad you think the characterization makes sense, as I like to think it does myself! Hope to keep hearing from you.

Until next time, thank you all for reading! S.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Okay, big chapter ahead! I hope you will all enjoy and thank you very much for reading and reviewing, it keeps me going to know you guys are waiting for it! If your reviewed you can find your reply at the end of this chapter!

"You took him to a quidditch match?" James' voice slid into falsetto in disbelief behind her and setting down the bags of groceries on the table, Ginny winced. She hadn't lied to her son about it. She'd just…not told him.

"I did." Dropping her keys and unwinding her scarf from her neck she turned to face James. "Draco was sick and Score really wanted to go, so I offered."

"You would take him but not me?" The hunched shoulders, the clenched fists and the set of his jaw all screamed of his father and Ginny felt her heart sink. This was the blinded rage that turned both father and son to an almost unparalleled stubbornness.

"James, the last time I asked you if you wanted to go to a game you said you didn't want to." And she'd known it was because he had been punishing her. "You said you'd rather watch paint dry."

"That doesn't matter! You shouldn't take some other kid because of it!"

"He's not "some kid", James, he's a sweet boy and he had been looking forward to going so I-"  
"Of course! He's _sweet_. And polite. And quiet. Much better than me, right? You don't only want to replace my dad but now you want to replace me too?" Tears had gathered at the corners of his eyes and angrily he swiped his sleeve over his face to dry them.

"Oh, baby, of course not." Reaching out to cradle him close James stepped back. "You're my _son_, I could never replace you."

"But you'd like to! He's smarter, more polite. He fits into that fancy house and a new fancy life and I'm just…I'm just…" Ginny recalled what Draco had told her about the blame James most likely felt for Harry leaving though he wasn't to blame and refused to step back. Putting her hand on his shoulder she ignored his attempt to shake it off and leaned the short distance she now had to to meet his gaze.

"James, listen to me. I love you. More than anything in the entire world and there is nothing I wouldn't do for you. I know sometimes you feel as if…As if you were maybe not enough and that's why your dad's not…here. But baby, you're everything we could have ever wished for. I wouldn't want to trade you for anything or anyone else. Do you hear me?" Sullenly James nodded but Ginny thought some of the tension had left him. Knowing he would need time to cool his temper she returned to the bag of groceries. She missed the determined look that passed over her son's face before he trudged up to his room.

o.O.o

His mum was going out with Draco again so he knew Score would be home alone. And they had some things to clear up. Whirling into the living room from the Floo fireplace James felt dark glee to track ash in over the pristine carpet. Obviously having heard him Score came out from the kitchen. He had a glass of coke in his hand and a cookie in the other.

"Oh, it's you. Did you wanna game?"

"No. Do you think I don't know what you're doing?"

"What?"

"You think she'll be your mum now but she won't. She's my mum and she'll never be yours." Score set down the glass of coke and the half-eaten cookie. Slowly he wiped his hands on his trousers before sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Okay."

"What do you mean okay?" Score shrugged.

"You're right. She'll never be my mum. She didn't give birth to me. She already has a kid. But if it makes my dad happy to pretend we're a family, all living happily ever after together, then I'm going to do it and I don't give a damn what you think about it, Potter."

"You're…You…" The anger suddenly left James and he felt as if a balloon had deflated in his chest. "You don't really want my mum to be…to…" Score ran a hand through his hair and James got the uncomfortable feeling he was talking to someone much older than him though they were the same age.

"I think our parents like each other and I'd rather pretend to make my dad happy than watch him be miserable because I'm too childish to let him. Do you think it's fair on your mum to make her be alone because you can't get it into your thick head your parents will never get together again? Because it doesn't sit well with you? Do you decide what can and can't make her happy?" Reining in the volatile temper he'd inherited from both his parents James looked away from Score's scornful gaze.

The truth was obvious to him even though he didn't want to see it. He heard it in her voice when she sang in the shower again, he could see it in her eyes when she laughed when _he_ called. He could smell it in the air when she left a trail of perfume when she began making an effort again. For someone who saw it and appreciated it. He just wished it could have been with his dad. But how would his dad see if she was happy or smell the perfume she put on for him if he was _never there_? How could he keep his mum from seeing someone else if his dad never came round to remind her of what they had had? How could his dad expect both of them to get by without him?

"Shit." He felt a traitorous tear trickle down his cheek and was about to tell Malfoy that if he ever told a living soul he'd cried about his mum he'd curse him so hard all his teeth fell out and swear on his grandmother's life he was lying. But Score was studying his crumbling cookie like it held the secret to world peace and quickly James wiped the tear on his sleeve, smothering a quick burst of gratitude for the other boy for understanding.

"So…I guess…I should…"

"Since you're here anyway, do you wanna try getting past level thirteen?" James shrugged.

"Yeah, why not."

o.O.o

Relieved to once again be breathing freely, Draco dove back into his life. He had a massive pile of work to catch up on, messages and emails, missed floo calls and even one Howler. He took Score to the Arcade again and managed to restore equilibrium between them. He knew his son was not petty enough to carry a grudge that he had gotten sick but he was less sure how happy he had been to get pushed into a "play date" with Ginny. He knew they had had a good time, he'd seen the end of it with his own eyes but he knew Score liked to take things slow. He couldn't be all happy about the change that was happening.

He took Ginny out, once more to the Montrelli's where she had this time tied on one of Maria's aprons, the strings easily reaching twice around her small waist, and cleared dishes and taken orders for a while. Afterwards, with her cheeks flushed and laughter in her eyes she'd shown him the tip of ten pounds, five wrapped sweets and the tale of a marriage proposal from a man old enough to be her grandfather.

He'd taken her to an elegant Michelin establishment where they'd amused themselves by guessing the fancy guests' occupations and relations. He'd coughed on his expensive wine when she pointed out a couple and spun the most ludicrous story of their secret passion and escape from overbearing parents, disapproving friends and judging peers. The couple were both portly, over sixty and the man wore an ill-fitting toupee. He'd contributed fairly, he thought, his best story about the surrounding diners actually true and overheard by Blaise at his club. Ginny had laughed so loudly at it three waiters had turned disapprovingly. Then they'd seen she was with him and had quickly turned back. Smirking to himself he'd indulged in pressing a kiss to her hand at the table.

He'd not seen the woman clad in a lime green silk suit who had done a double take at this before a wide, predatory grin spread on her face. Neither of them had noticed that she followed them and had been blind to her and everyone else around them as they kissed under a tree in Hyde Park.

o.O.o

The ringing went off at three in the morning and Ginny groaned. Turning over on her side to block it out, it persistently continued and with a swallowed oath Draco sat up and answered, his normally polished tone roughened as he snapped,

"What?" in a clipped syllable. The person on the other side spoke quickly and Draco repeated the "What?" this time worry and disbelief coloring the word. Sitting up, Ginny instinctively wrapped an arm around him as he leaned forward.

"Are you insane? Why are you listening to her?" The other end replied, the pitch rising in what Ginny would only interpret as panic.

"Stay there, I'll be there in ten minutes. Don't move." Then he snapped the phone shut and rolled out of bed. Pulling on his jeans and a sweatshirt, his hair a complete mess and swearing as he searched for socks, Ginny got out of bed at a slower pace.

"What's wrong, Draco?"

"It's Luna. She's gone into labor and now refuses to go to a hospital. She thinks it's a "sign" she's meant to give birth at home. Blaise can't budge her and he won't just haul her out, thinking he might upset her or harm the baby. So I have to go and beat some sense into his dense head and then carry Luna to the closest hospital whether she wants to or not." Relieved that this was the extent of the issue, Ginny nodded and reached for her own jeans.

"Okay."

"What do you mean okay? The woman's actually gone loony now and you're just going to nod and say "okay"?"  
"I will. This is all going to be fine, just calm down." She laid a hand on his arm and waited for his grey eyes to focus on her. Once they did she squeezed his arm reassuringly and felt him relax a little under her touch. "Go tell Score where we're going and I'll finish getting dressed."

As Draco hurried out, still shaking his head in disbelief, she found him a pair of socks (in the sock drawer where they should be, who would've thought?) and pulled on her own clothes, finishing by tugging her hair into a bun. Deeming this her best possible look for three in the morning she went to the fireplace. There was only one thing to do and however much she wished she didn't have to she would need help for this one. In labor, with all the hormones rushing through her Ginny wasn't sure even Draco and Blaise would be able to convince Luna to go to the hospital and Ginny did not feel her one experience made her into much of an expert. She'd need some expertise. So she swallowed her apprehension, kneeled in front of the fireplace, tossed the green powder in the flames, stuck her head in and called,

"Mum!"

With the hearing of an owl, acquired by seven times motherhood, Molly Weasley had answered her call after two shouts. Wrapped in a pink terry robe and with her hair on blue rollers she'd listened to Ginny's hurried explanation.

"Mum, I'm at Dra…the man I'm seeing, I'm at his place and his best friend's wife is having a baby. She's refusing to go the hospital and everyone seems to be in a panic. We're going to need your help, mum, can you come?" With a decisive nod, Molly had pulled a roller from her hair and asked,

"Where is it?"

o.O.o

Entering the hall of the Zabini-Lovegood residence the worried Draco, antsy Ginny and sleepy but excited Score were met in the hall by a frantic Blaise. The normal cool and suave former Slytherin was dressed in pajama bottoms and a tuxedo shirt, one sock with his hair an absolute mess. His eyes were filled with absolute terror as he spoke,

"She won't go. She won't go, Dray. I've told her, again and again, that we have to go and she won't." Realizing this was not going to be one of those times when you could sit back and hope for the best, Ginny stepped in.

"Draco, take Blaise upstairs and calm him down, we will take care of this. Score, get the twins and take them back to your house. Put them to bed and tell them everything is fine. This is not going to be something they should be hearing very soon. Blaise, where is Luna?" The man just flapped his hands uselessly and Draco nodded to the stairs.

"Upstairs, second on the right. Come on man, we'll go up too. It'll be okay."

"It's too early. The baby shouldn't come for another two weeks."

"Babies keep to their own schedules," Molly Weasley spoke as she appeared in the hall with a pop. "We'll have this sorted out in no time." With a kind but rather brusque pat on Blaise's shoulder and a long cool look at Draco she ventured upstairs.

"I see your mum hasn't changed," Draco spoke as he put and arm around his friend's shoulder, guiding him to the stairs.

"Not a bit. Score, are you getting the twins?" Woken from the stupor of excitement, sleep and the shock of meeting the indomitable Mrs. Weasley, Score nodded and followed.

Following her mother into the bedroom, leaving Draco to deal with Blaise as best he could, Ginny found Luna, her gorgeous hair let down and flowing over her shoulders and back. Wearing a long, white nightgown and her face flushed in pain and determination, she paced the length of the room.

"I don't want to go." Luna's normally dreamy voice was decisive and irritated.

"Of course, dear, if you want to stay here, then we'll stay." Edging closer to her daughter, Molly whispered, "Sweetheart, she's much too far along to move now, we're going to have to do this here." Molly leaned closer and lowered her voice even more. "And when we're done we're going to talk about why Narcissa Black's son is sitting out there." Then she stepped closer to Luna again and Ginny felt like when she was little and had done something wrong and was just waiting for her mother to tell her what her punishment would be. "Now, Ginny, be a dear and conjure some hot water and plenty of towels." She took Luna's arm and led her towards the bed.

"Do you have a blanket for the baby ready?"

"Yes. In the nursery. It's red. I made it."

"I'll get it." Telling herself her mother knew what she was doing, that she wouldn't let Luna stay home if there was any danger she went in search of the blanket.

o.O.o

Reaching the hall on the upper floor, Draco pushed Blaise down on an armchair before seating himself opposite in an alcove where a stuffed raccoon wearing a tiara resided on a shelf above their heads. The tiara was a Zabini heirloom, three hundred years old and made from the finest goblin wrought silver and dragon egg emeralds. It had been gifted to Luna by Mrs. Zabini on her wedding day and Luna had thanked her and told her it was perfect for Burrito. Confused, Mrs. Zabini had not enquired further, but if she had, she would have found out that Burrito was the name of the raccoon.

"What is she doing? Why aren't they making her go to the hospital, where there's doctors and…and help!"  
"I think it may be a bit too late for that."

"I…I thought I had more time to convince her. I was sure once she got closer to her time she'd remember what an ordeal it was with he twins and that she'd change her mind." Blaise was sitting with his head in his hands, his voice strained and muffled and Draco knew he didn't need any chastising.

"She'll be fine, B. She's tough." He glanced around, desperate for anything he could say to help. "And she has Mrs. Weasley." He sent an uneasy glance to the door. He had not missed the look the Weasley matriarch had sent him before sailing past into the bedroom.

"Just because you've had eighteen children doesn't mean you know what to do! I drive a car but if it broke down I wouldn't have a clue what to do."

"I wouldn't call what you do driving. But – though I agree she's had the cheap seats before, I think she knows a lot more than you or me. If nothing else she'll be able to tell if something's really wrong and we can Apparate her out of there in a second. But for now we'll have to trust Luna. It's up to her now."

"She's just so…small, she…"

"She's really strong. She carried the twins, remember? And they were no lightweights coming out, either. "

"Seven pounds, each."

"See, that turned out well. And they say the second time is easier, this is theoretically Luna's third time." Please, let it be easier, he prayed.

"But I…It's-"

"-This is going to happen, here and soon. You need to get a grip, Blaise. Luna needs you now." This seemed to have the desired effect on Blaise, whose eyes cleared a bit. "She needs you to be there for her." Not that he knew from his own experience. When Daphne had given birth to Score she had refused to let him be in the room, only allowing him to see them when they'd been tidied up afterwards. But he'd sensed the resentment in the room when he had come in. The "how could you have done this to me" lingering in the air as heavily as the perfume she'd demanded to have back. But he'd still believed then, still thought that they'd be a family. And though she had thought she looked awful she had never looked more beautiful to him than the day she'd given birth to their son.

"So she does, and right now." Mrs. Weasley was suddenly in the doorway. Blaise got up and Draco leaned back in his chair. "She asked for you too." The "you" carried a tone of vague resentment and Blaise sent him a look of hysterical laughter over his shoulder. Swallowing his instant response of "no way in hell" he rose to follow and he thought he saw both a both considering and vaguely approving look in the Weasley matriarch's eyes before she turned away.

o.O.o

Ginny felt her throat clog as she watched Luna cradle her newborn son, her back resting against Blaise's chest. His eyes were disbelieving and shining a brighter amber than normal as he gingerly stroked the baby's cheek.

"He's beautiful." Blaise's voice was rough and Ginny's heart contracted. That's how it should be. That was how Harry had sounded once. When James was born, he'd worn the same joyfully frightened look.

"He looks like you." Luna tucked the blanket closer around the tiny form.

"Then that's probably why." Luna smiled and turned her head.

"You are beautiful. Especially on the inside." Feeling as if they were suddenly intruding Ginny spoke to interrupt the intimacy,

"What is he going to be called?" Luna looked up to where Mrs. Weasley was standing by the window, efficiently folding towels, a pleased smile on her features.

"What was your father's name, Mrs. Weasley?"

"William, like my Bill."

"Then he's Xander Draco William Zabini-Lovegood."

"He's not going to be able to write his name until he's thirteen." Draco stated and Ginny elbowed him. "But it's good. Congratulations, you two. Again."

o.O.o

Ducking into the kitchen Ginny pulled her phone from her pocket. Finding the number she no longer kept on speed dial she waited for it to connect. After two rings he picked up.

"Harry?"

"Ginny? Is something wrong?" With the practiced ease of hundreds of wake up calls she heard him putting on his glasses and sit up in one move. He'd be in his clothes within seconds and then out the door if need be. In the earlier days of their marriage he'd have pressed a kiss to her forehead on his way out. Later he'd just answered in monosyllables when she'd asked where he was going. And that had been long after she had stopped asking if she should come too.

"No, no. Nothing's wrong. I just…I know it's early but I…I wanted to tell you something. Something important." She could _hear_ the unspoken irritation over the line. It wasn't life or death. Just his wife. Ex wife. Swallowing the instant response of anger she leaned forward, focusing on Blaise and Luna's garden. The sight of the ceramic octopus with its eight waving legs adorned with Christmas baubles helped. It looked beautiful and original, and wonderfully whimsical. Like the rest of their home. A mix of both of them, the classy, contemporary tastes of Blaise, his art and priceless antiques mixed with Luna's books, her charms and trinkets as well as her homemade decorations, all dreamily created and displayed in a beautiful and imaginative way. In the house she and Harry had shared there had been nothing of Harry's. He'd not had anything from his family and not had the time to choose anything with her. He had kissed her and said he trusted her taste, handing her the key to his Gringott's vault. Just another way she had been lonely in that house, surrounded only by her things.

"Okay, what is it?" She could hear his glasses click against the phone when he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I…I'm seeing someone. It's going great and…and it's…well, I just wanted you to hear it from me."

"Oh." She could hear him think, probing what he felt and she waited. "I see. Are you…I mean…How…How is James taking it?" Knowing it was ridiculous that she felt grateful he had cared to ask about his son she straightened up.

"Okay. It's had its…bumps."

"Well, I…I can see why that would be…hard from him. Ginny, who is-Shit, sorry, I…I have to take this." She heard the telltale pop of a Floo message and she closed her eyes.

"I know you do."

"I can't make it to the Burrow on Saturday for your mum's dinner but tell Jamie, I…" His voice changed as he turned to speak to the person calling on the floo. "I'm coming, Morris, give me a second. I have to go Gin. Bye." When she replied she knew the line was already dead.  
"Bye." Turning around she found Draco leaning against the doorjamb.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop but then…But then I did. Sorry." Ginny shrugged.

"It's okay. I can imagine it'd be hard to resist if you hear your girlfriend telling her ex about seeing you."

"It was. So…how'd he take it?"

"No idea. He's not terribly good at letting anyone know what he feels or thinks."

"If I were to venture a guess he feels like the biggest idiot in this universe and at least the next three parallel ones." Ginny arched a brow.

"The next three?"  
"At least. He let you go, didn't he?" Ginny's lips twitched.

"You are such a smooth talker, Malfoy."

"Oh, you haven't heard the half of it. Wait til I've actually done something you don't like. I perform some of my best work under duress." Letting a chuckle escape her Ginny wondered how he could turn her mood so easily. She had been upset about something a minute ago, hadn't she?

"I feel it's only fair warning to let you know I tend to leave little time for explanations when I'm angry. You'd be better off with a shielding spell, or a bodyguard than your silver tongue."

"Your imagination of what I'd do with my silver tongue is clearly limited."

"Would you please stop flirting in my kitchen? The only thing your silver tongue is doing in here is embarrassing itself, Malfoy, so stop this atrocious display of slow-wittedness before my ears kill themselves in self-defense." Blaise had come down, now dressed in jeans and a hunter green jumper and his eyes danced as he smirked at Draco. "If you stay quiet I will allow you to stay to watch as the master works." He turned his attention to her. "Ginevra Weasley, you are a godsend and though your taste in men is appalling I will obey your every whim and treat you as a queen forevermore for helping today. I believe I would still be running around like a headless chickens had you not come along." He bent into a graceful bow and pressed a kiss to her hand. At this moment her mother entered the kitchen as well. Blaise's face split in an actual grin and for a moment Ginny thought she might be seeing a glimpse of what he would have looked like as a boy if he hadn't been so surly though all of his youth.

"Ah, Mrs. Weasley. You are a lifesaver, a complete treasure and a goddess among women. If I can ever do anything for you, I will be happy to. You are as wise as you are beautiful and it's no wonder you've had such a wonderful daughter." Ginny couldn't believe it as her mother's cheeks pinked and she smiled.

"You sweet-talker. I did nothing."

"Nothing? Mrs. Weasley, I think helping bringing my son into the world is a great something and you are a hero for coming to the rescue. Your husband must be one lucky man." Blaise bowed again and he must've stashed his wand in his sleeve as when he straightened he held out a bright flower.

"Oh. You charmer." Her mother accepted it with a girlish giggle and actually swatted Blaise on the arm. Ginny looked at Draco in disbelief and he rolled his eyes at his friend's antics.

"Now I have to return to the mother of my children who has requested some grape juice - from a carton. I am apparently to be trusted with fathering her child but not conjuring juice." And with that he picked up the carton on the counter and headed back upstairs just as Draco's phone rang. Turning to take it in the hall, Molly transformed in an instant.

"Bring him Saturday." It was not, Ginny could tell, a request but an order.

A/N2: There we go! I have tried writing the Score and James scene over and over but Score just wouldn't sink to an actual fight. I hope this still seems as believable to you as it does to me even though I've second-guessed myself a lot over that…Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!

Pottermum: I'm so glad you're liking it and are enjoying the artistic liberties I have taken with Draco!

Chromeknickers: Wow, what a response, thank you so much for that! I really enjoyed reading your views on each chapter. I do try to mix funny with some more serious topics and I'm pleased to hear it reads well-paced, I sometimes worry about that. I really love writing Blaise so I hope you enjoyed seeing some of him in this chapter! Again, think you for the support, it always makes me so happy to get a review!

Abby: Oh, the family is coming, very very soon. I'm so happy you like it!

Nutmeg44: More of Ginny's perspective and thought behind is coming and we are getting very close to the boiling point – the Weasleys. I have parts of it drafted and it's going to be a big one in more than one way. I'm glad to hear my chapters still leave you wanting more and that you were pleased to see more BlaisexLuna in this one, as well as their newest addition to the family. And there will always be more Blaise, he's my favorite to write! Thank you as always for your comments and encouragement they help a lot!

Roni2010: Thank you for reviewing again! I do try to show why Ginny has chosen to leave Harry without making him into too bad a person, I'm glad you think that's well explained. There will be more Score and Draco thoughts on how the little "family" is developing. I hope to see you around again!

Pizziagirl: Thank you, I'm so glad you're still around and still enjoying!

Hatebelow: Thank you so much! There will be some Harry, I'm too curious about his reaction myself to leave that out. I love that you like my little side characters, I enjoy bringing them in (perhaps a little too much!) and there will be a little bit of Oliver and Neville in the next chapter. I'm the worst at writing one-shots but I may give it a try just because grown up Neville is cute!

Blinck22: Thank you! I'm glad you liked a quidditch match for the bonding; I thought it would be fairly neutral ground for them both. Weasleys are coming, there is one more chapter before that but they are coming – en masse!

: Maybe your last review got lost somehow…I can't see it in my list or I would have been rambling to you before! But I'm so glad to hear you liked it! I enjoy making Ginny slowly return to more of her old self, mischievous and hot-tempered and out of Harry's shadow. I'm so happy to hear you like my take on Score and James. I agree that Draco definitely wants his son to be different to him!

BlackRose851: Thank you, as always!

The King in White: I'm so happy you like it! I do enjoy imagining that the wizarding world is a little different after the war…

Bonghi: Wow, thank you for that! I'm so glad you enjoy my writing!

I'll see all you next time, which I can tell you will be sooner than last time as the chapter is already drafted! S.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Welcome back! Much shorter wait than usual I am pleased to report! These are a few scenes I felt were necessary for the buildup to the big whammy, the Weasleys, who we will see next time. Thanks to all who have read and followed/favorited and if you reviewed you can find your reply at the end of this chapter. I hope you'll enjoy!

"_Bring him Saturday_", she'd said. Not a question, not a request. An order. Annoyed, Ginny pushed the knife down harder than necessary as she chopped tomatoes for the breakfast she was making. They were back at Draco's to change and eat before going back to Blaise and Luna's and help out with watching the twins. Ginny had sent her dad an owl to let him know she wouldn't be in to work that day. She could have floo called but in case her mother had already told him of who she was seeing she wasn't sure she wanted to see his gently enquiring eyes. Hear him tentatively ask if she wanted to _talk_. He wouldn't actually say anything, like her mum was sure to do, but he'd wonder and she didn't think she could face it after a sleepless night and a long day to come.

"Do they deserve it?"

"Pardon?" Draco had spoken from the doorway and she paused her ministrations to glance at him. His hair was still damp from the shower and the clean masculine scent of his soap trailed in the air. He ambled in and nodded towards the mushed tomatoes on the cutting board.

"Did they misbehave?"

"Not really. They're substitutes for my family's heads."

"Ouch. What did they do then?"

"Nothing. Well, it's not what, it's how." Wiping her hands on the tea towel she turned away from the counter to face him. "My mum wants you to come to dinner on Saturday." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned against the kitchen island counter opposite. The cramped space somehow underlined how a distance suddenly opened between them like a vast ravine. Knowing there were treacherous edges around this issue in particular and not wishing to stumble and fall, Ginny braced herself for backing away.

"And you don't want me to?" She saw the tension in his shoulders and reached out, laying a hand on his arm.

"That's not it. I do want you to get to know them. I just...it's just how she did it. Ordered me like I'd done something wrong. It's like she's already made up her mind its going to be a disaster and she wants to prove it to me." Biting her lip to keep from letting her temper get the best of her she wondered what her mum thought she knew. What exactly did she think she knew just because she'd hated Narcissa and Lucius at school? Was Draco just an extension of his parents, not his own person? Had she asked her mum that questions in general, "do you think the child should be blamed for the sins of his parents", Molly would have delivered a loud, blistering no. But not when it came to the Malfoys. Then all fancy sentiments were forgotten in favor of prejudice and past hurts.

"Well, I'll just have to go and prove them wrong, won't I?" He drew his hands from his pockets and put his hand on top of hers on his arm. "Do you doubt my charm?"

"Not at all," she laughed. "It's my family I doubt. They might just refuse to see you're different now. They won't wait to see you before making up their minds and its so...so unfair!" Unable to hold back the anger any longer she felt it rise within and she pushed her hair out of her eyes. "They know nothing of you now, _nothing_ and they're going to sit on their high horses and judge. And it's just wrong!"

"Hey, hey, hey. Ginny, listen to me," He stepped closer and cupped her chin. "I'm not going to lie and say I look forward to this or that it'll all be fine. There's too much history between us for that. What I will say is that we will just have to get used to dealing with this kind of thing if we're going to be together. Your family is always going to be your family and I will always be me." He grimaced and stroked his thumb over her cheek. "Your family has a right to worry about you and I will go and I will do my best to convince them there's no need to. I want to make this as easy as I can for you."

Wasn't that exactly what had been missing before? Such a simple thing. I want to make it easier for you.

"I hope you can keep that zen attitude under my family's assault on Saturday."

"Well, it certainly will take every ounce of my willpower not to refer to your house as a hovel and your brothers as red-haired brood." His lips twitched and she smiled in return. The insults that once stung so bitterly now seemed childish and feeble.

"Just prepare yourself for the worst."

"Don't worry, I've had practice for that."

"Don't you get tired of it? I haven't even explained to anyone once and I'm already sick of it. You shouldn't have to defend yourself any longer."

"I learned a long time ago it hurts more to wish things were different, Ginny. They are how they are now."

"I can't help it. People should just learn to forget."

"I wouldn't want to forget. Every choice I've made, good and bad, have led here." He tilted his head and let his gaze slide down her frame. "And here is pretty good." Picking up on his signal he didn't want to talk about it anymore Ginny opted for humor to ease the tension.

"Well, if you'd _chosen_ to be less of a prat at school you may have had "here" much sooner."

"As if I'd-wait, what?"

"What, what?" she asked innocently and leaned her elbow on the counter.

"You…" She never thought she'd see him look embarrassed but he tips of his ears had gone pink and it had to be the cutest thing she'd ever seen. "You thought I...at school, you thought…"

"I thought you were probably the most gorgeous guy in school. Shame about your poor manners." She arched a brow and he seemed to regain some posture.

"Well, if I d known you thought that you wouldn't have been safe from me for a moment." His tone chased a tingle up her spine.

"You…you wanted me back at school?" She shouldn't be so surprised. After all if he found her attractive now he probably would have at school as well but even the thought that his younger self had thought about her that way made her heart slam against her ribcage.

"I wanted you so badly I hated myself for it." A wave of heat swept through her as she had a moment of weakened knees.

"Where's Score?"

"He took the twins back." The second he finished the sentence Ginny grabbed his shirt and hauled him close, pressing her lips to his. With a groan he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. Desire curled in her stomach like heated wires, twisting and tightening and rushed to snap the ties she buried her hands in his hair. Seeming to understand her hurry he lifted her up, easily setting her down on the counter. Pulling her sweater off her she lifted her arms to ease it off. With a sigh as the cool morning air in the kitchen woke goose bumps on her skin she pulled her hair tie free and her heavy locks tumbled free. With a look of an almost awed disbelief he ran his hands through it, touching it as if it were spun gold.

"Another choice to add to my regrets."

"No. We're here now. That's what means something. And I'm not going anywhere."

"Good. Because I wouldn't let you go again." He bent to capture her lips again and Ginny felt the world float away.

o.O.o

Seeing Reena "read" to Draco from a book she obviously knew by heart Ginny smiled. He was just so good with them. You could tell from the adoring looks he received both twins loved him, and what was more, enjoyed his company. He had a wonderful way of not talking down to them as most adults would, but instead brought himself closer to their level. Not that he used baby talk or pretended to be less intelligent. He just matched them.

"Now you're pretty." Lucy stepped back from where she had been putting glittery butterfly clips in Ginny's hair. Holding up the blurry plastic mirror that came with the pink set of combs, clips and even a plastic non-functional hairdryer Ginny could tell her hair was in wild disarray, knotted and put up in something that closely resembled getting your hair caught in a paper shredder.

"It looks great. Thanks, Lu." Nodding in approval Lucy bounced in excitement.

"It's pretty. Isn't she pretty, uncle Draco?" Draco looked up from the book where Reena was pointing at the picture, solemnly telling him the chicken was getting sued for libel by the duck. It sounded as if Blaise had taken some creative liberties with his reading of "The Chicken That Had No Friends". Having already heard it twice Ginny knew the chicken in the end reached a mutually beneficial settlement with the duck due to ingenious and last minute use of the amended regulations of the 2002 Agricultural Act, thought of by his brilliant lawyer, the goose.

To his credit Draco's lips didn't twitch as he smiled warmly.

"She is. Your hair looks great. Your hairdresser is a genius." Patting it coquettishly Ginny replied,

"Thank you. Do you think I should wear it like this when we go out next time?"

"Most definitely. In fact, you've never looked better." He leaned in and kissed her and Ginny heard Lucy sigh in delight as Reena snorted in disgust and turned the page in the book.

"It's true. You look fantastic, Gin." Pulling apart Ginny looked up to see Neville and another man in the doorway of the living room. Sitting on the floor of the play corner in the living room she was again struck by how tall and wide the boy she had known had gotten. And he was still slighter than the man next to him. Vague memories of Oliver Wood swam into her mind. He had changed a fair bit since his school days as well.

But it could only be him. He was tall, at least a head taller than Neville which had to make him even taller than Draco and broader over the shoulders. He had a thick thatch of deep brown hair that pulled towards reddish and a pair of laughing brown eyes. His features were not classically handsome, they were a bit too heavy and knotted but he looked extremely charming and he had something appealingly trustworthy about him. Wearing a loose sport shirt and jeans Ginny could see he was muscular in the way of someone who did little else but exercise and he had large hands and feet. All in all he should have looked imposing with the muscles and sheer size but instead he looked like a mix of a boxer and pre-school teacher.

"Neville!" The twins jumped in delight, Lucy making a beeline for Oliver who hoisted her high.

"Hiya, gorgeous." With an incredibly female certainty she would be welcome Lucy cuddled close, her eyes wide and adoring. Reena on the other hand opted for greeting Neville first, her smile radiant as she looked up at him.

"Did you bring it? Do you have it? Can I see it?" Chuckling, Neville pulled a small book from his jacket pocket.

"Here you go. Don't tell your mother." Giving his leg a hug Reena rushed off to open the book.

"Are you giving the kid books from the Restricted Section again?" Draco joked and got to his feet. Following suit, Ginny stood as well.

"No, it's just a book from the Hogwarts library. The kid was devastated she wouldn't get to read the books there for another seven years. If Luna finds out I took a book from the library off school premises I'll never hear the end of it."

"You're braver than I if you risk the wrath of Madame Pince," Ginny shook her head. Neville grinned.

"I couldn't help it. That girl's got me wrapped around her little finger. Anyway, you remember Ginny, Ollie? Ron's sister."

"I do." He shifted Lucy in his arms to shake her hand. "It's nice to see you. And your hair looks amazing."

"Thanks, Oliver. It's good to see you too."

"I can do your hair, if you like?" Lucy piped up and Ginny waited to hear the big masculine sports star tell her no. But Oliver surprised her.

"No? Really? Will it look as great as Ginny's?" Lucy nodded seriously and he set her down. "All right, then let's do it." Winking at her Ollie went to sit on the floor in the spot she'd abandoned, clips and combs spread in a circle around him.

"Well, we're here to take over for you. You must be exhausted after tonight." Neville said as he shook his head at Oliver in amusement.

"Thanks, Nev. Did you get a chance to inspect the new addition?"

"We did, we went up before crashing your party here. He's cute. Then again he's got some impressive genes to choose from."

"Don't tell Blaise that, he's already bursting with self-satisfaction."

"I think he might already know. He does own a mirror."

"Too many. But he'll have nothing on your boyfriend once Luce is done with him." Neville laughed.

"True. I better go make sure she adds some glitter. He has a photoshoot for The Quidditch Quarterly later." Ambling over to where his boyfriend was now getting his hair combed into a zigzagged parting with a small pink plastic comb he sat down on the floor as well.  
"So Luce, I hear you have a little brother now."

"Ready to go and get some sleep?" Draco asked and took her hand.

"Am I ever. Let's go." They waved and left, Lucy's voice trailing behind them as she told Neville her brother was pretty useless as he only screamed and slept and couldn't even talk yet. He also resembled Mr Podkins from next door and she was sure he was actually not a person but a large raisin.

o.O.o

Sitting on the couch with Draco standing behind her to get the myriad of butterfly clips from her hair, slowly untangling the mess Lucy had managed to make of it Ginny felt the almost dreamlike state of being overly tired settling into her bones.

"Would you ever do it again?" His voice was soft and she tried to get her tired mind to cooperate.

"Do what?"

"Have another child?" His hands were warm and gentle as he pulled another clip from her hair. Taking a sip from the whisky they were having to celebrate a job well done, she felt it warm her throat. Though it was two o'clock in the afternoon she had only had four hours of sleep in the last thirty-six so it felt well deserved.

"Having just experienced another birth up close I can't say I relish the prospect of that part but, yes. One day I would like to have more children." She'd just never thought it possible before now. "What about you?"

"Yes, I always wanted more than one."

"And maybe there's something to be said for having the baby at home."

"What?" His voice slid high with incredulity before he caught her tone.

"You're cruel, Weasley. Be kind, I don't know how much more my heart can take today."

"It was beautiful though."

"It was. Man, I can't believe I'm an uncle again."

"Xander Draco William Zabini Lovegood. I like it. Do you know why they chose Alexander?" She sighed in contention as a particularly knotted strand was let down.

"It's Blaise's dad's name. The only man his mum ever loved out of her hundreds of husbands."

"Hundreds?"

"Well, many. And Xander for short I think is for Luna's dad."

"And Draco for you."

"Yes, poor kid."

"You don't like Draco?" She'd always liked it. Her brother had laughed at it but she'd suspected head always been a little envious of the mystery and glamour of a constellation name.

"It's all right. It's no Ginevra."

"Funny."

"I thought so."

"If you're not a fan of that type of name, why Scorpius?"

"Daphne picked. She was a fan of the constellation thing, it's a pureblood tradition. Her sister had one, and her parents but not her. And Score was born in November so it was obvious to her."

"So she gave him something."

"That's how I feel about it. At least he'll always have that from her. There, I think that's the last one." Leaving the little pile of butterfly clips and their drinks they headed up to bed together as the sun streamed in through the windows.

o.O.o

Back at work the next day Ginny should have been tired but she felt exhilarated and energized. She felt as if she'd been brought even closer to Draco in the last two days and was more certain than ever she had made the right decision in choosing him. Toying with the idea of calling him to see if he was free for lunch the door suddenly crashed open to reveal a red-faced Ron.

"What the hell is this?" He held up a crumpled copy of the Daily Prophet.

"I believe that's called a newspaper, Ronald. They come out every day to inform people who read of current events."

"Don't be ridiculous. What the hell is with this? Is it true?" He slammed the paper down on her desk and the bold headline "**A Tryst Between Known** **Death Eater and Wife of The Boy Who Lived Twice in Secret Hideaway **" glared up at her. Scanning the text Ginny snorted. The finish of "_at least our Mrs. Potter has the decency to only flaunt her seedy romance on the muggle side. It prompts us, dear readers to wonder if she is at least ashamed of having switched tastes for choosing paramours?_" The byline spelled Rita Skeeter.

"Vicious woman."

"_So it's true_? I can see now why you wouldn't tell us! You're ashamed of him!"

"I am _not_! Draco is the best man I know and I didn't tell you about him because I was ashamed of what _you_ would say to him!"  
"Ginny, he's evil! He was on – the – Dark – side!"

"He was _just a boy_! He was not evil, he was trying to keep his family and himself alive in an impossible situation!"

"Harry would have-"

"Don't you dare, Ronald Weasley! Don't you dare tell me what Harry would do. Where is he right now, for example? Don't you think he should be the one barging into my office shaking a crumpled newspaper in my face if he feels so strongly about this?"

"Harry's – he's, he's a hero. A –"

"Harry is the grand savior, The Boy Who Lived Twice, the bloody rescuer of a nation. I'm well aware, but where is he when his family needs him, hmm? When you need him? Do you see him anywhere?"

"He is saving lives! He's a _hero_!" Ron spluttered.  
"He is a hero, Ron. But he is no husband. Not even really a father. I will not give up my life because Harry believes he should. That he has to."

"You're being completely irrational. You're not thinking straight. I…I ought to-"

"Ought to what? Lock me up? Throw away the key? Punish me for leaving Harry until I go back to him?"

"Maybe! I don't know! Why him, Ginny? How can you do this to Harry? To our parents?"

"Why is it always my fault, Ron? Why is he always the injured party? He was fine with us leaving and if he ever remembers to miss me then I'm glad because then I'll know he at least _cared_. What we had was not "us" anymore and we couldn't make each other happy. I tried, Merlin knows, I tried so hard to be there for him, waiting for him to let me in. But I am done! Done being the shadow of someone else, of getting overlooked and ignored until I'm needed. Then I'm meant to spring to the rescue, hold his hand and stroke his hair, but I still won't be let behind his shield. Do you know what that feels like? To be looking in from the outside and know you can help but he won't let you? What I want is a partner, someone who will be there for me when I need it too. Who takes my calls when I want to talk, who holds me when I'm upset, who stands by me and who _listens_. And that, Ron, is not Harry." Having lowered her voice again she stepped closer to Ron and apprehensively he stepped back. His eyes flickered uncertainly and Ginny noted gleefully he was looking for an escape. He had been on the receiving end of her spells before.

"That person just happens to be Draco Malfoy. He has done nothing but support me since I met him again. The very first time we spoke he listened to me longer than Harry had in years. He didn't brush off my concerns as unimportant or make me feel ashamed I'm not strong enough to keep it all inside. Isn't it sad it took that support from a _stranger_ to realize I had no reason to feel guilty about my failed marriage? Stronger support than I had gotten from my own family and that on the first day I met him. So you disapprove and rage all you want, Ronald, try and lock me up for all I care – in fact, I dare you. Because I am in with love Draco and nothing – _nothing_ – you throw at me will change my mind."

Seeming too enraged for words Ron turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.

Sinking down on her chair, Ginny tried to will her heartbeat to slow down. This was just a taste of what was to come on Saturday, just one out of seven brothers. Groaning she reached for her phone, she'd definitely need that lunch with Draco now.

o.O.o

"Mum?" Knowing she'd timed her visit to catch her mother before various other members of the family were likely to drop in she was still pleased to find Molly baking alone in the kitchen. There were few things that put her mum in a better mood than baking.

"Ginny? How nice with company. Will you be a dear and boil the kettle?" Waving her wand to send the kettle whistling she gathered cups and the rosehip tea her mum favored. Leaving it to steep she sat at the table. Pulling her chair slightly out of reach from the flour dusting the air when her mum vigorously kneaded the dough she took a moment to gather her thoughts, slowly drawing patterns in the flour gathered on the surface of the table. Her mum said nothing, her head contentedly bobbing in time with her efforts. The radio was quietly humming in the background, too low to be anything but mumbled company. Sunshine washed through the spotless windows and warmed the air and set glints of ginger sparkling in her mum's deeper shade of red hair.

It woke hundreds of similar memories. Of the precious moments she had had alone with her mum, her brothers ensuring to keep out of the kitchen until there were biscuits to be sneaked off a hot tray. But Ginny had always loved those moments of quiet, of companionship in the cozy kitchen. So she gathered her courage and looked up.

"Mum, can we talk about Draco?" Her mum's kneading paused for a moment, before she picked up again.

"I'm seeing him on Saturday, sweetheart, we'll talk then."

"No." Her mother looked up at her tone and tilted her head, her hands already seeking her hips and Ginny continued, "I'm not bringing him here Saturday until someone's heard his side. My side."

"Why?"

"Because…Well, you know he and Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't exactly friends at school?"

"I think Ron mentioned something." Ginny rolled her eyes (discreetly so her mum wouldn't see). Mentioned, her butt. More likely he had yelled bloody murder and thrown accusations around, mixed with a few choice expletives. Her mum went back to kneading.

"So the thing is…It's a bit worse than that. They hated each other. And granted, Harry had reason. Draco was obnoxious." Surprised, Molly looked up, a strand of red hair, the shade still only slightly duller than Ginny's own falling over her forehead. "You thought I didn't know? That I forgot? Mum, I went to school with him, I know he was a little prat." Nodding and brushing the strand off, managing to leave a smudge of flour on her cheek, Molly gave her a considering look.

"All right, dear. I'll listen to what you have to say."

"Thanks, mum." Drawing a deep breath she hoped Draco would forgive her for sharing the story of his childhood.

By the time she left she felt worse than she had thought she would. Her mum had reacted as she had predicted, her heart softening for the boy he had been. All she had told her was the truth. What she knew. But as she'd known what her mum's response would be it was as if she was…using his struggle. He had fought so hard to be who he was now and she had turned it into a condensed parlor tale to defend herself. It had been to make it easier from him on Saturday, but it still made her feel dirty. But she would need someone on her side. Their side, on Saturday. Her run-in with Ron had just been the beginning. She couldn't imagine what Fred would say to the man who had almost (accidentally) killed his wife. And what he said, George would say. Bill and Charlie could go either way. On the one hand they hadn't experienced Draco Malfoy's petty insults at school but they'd also not seen him suffer under the control of Voldemort. They might think he had actually been an actual Death Eater. Percy was bound to sit on his high horse as usual and condemn. Ginny sighed. It had been the only way. The only one who could keep all her brothers in line would be her mum.

A/N: It's official, the next one is the big one – The Weasleys! I hope to see you all then!

Guest: Thank you, I have every intention of continuing!

Johan Kira Expelliarmus: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed and stay posted for more chapters!

Pizziagirl: Thank you, as always!

Charlotte Bird: I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed and that you think my re-invented Draco is believable! I hope you liked this chapter and that it kept you away from real life at least for a little bit!

Roni2010: Thank you for your support, and I'm glad you liked my teenage bonding scene!

Pottermum: I do agree Harry has definitely lost sight of what's important! There will be more of Blaise and Luna, I love them both too much to stop playing with them. I'm also curious to see how Score and James will develop their relationship so we'll see more of them too. Thank you for you encouragement, it always helps!

Blinck22: The Weasleys are coming, en masse but at least there was some angry Ron in there, I hope you enjoyed!

Nutmeg44: You guessed right and it was one Rita Skeeter! And we may not have seen the last of that article, either, we shall see…Blaise was hilarious to write under pressure and I can't wait to see little Xander grow. I'm so glad you're enjoying and thank you for your continued encouragement, it never fails to help me write!

BlackRose851: It will be an intense meeting, that's for sure! Thank you for reviewing, as always!

Guest: I'm glad you liked Molly and the way she thinks of Draco in terms of his parents. I imagine that's how it is if you go to school at the same time…Thank you for your support!

What's fake: I have certainly taken a lot of artistic liberties with Blaise's character, I'm happy to hear you still like him. I do agree Harry would be really hard to try and live with in this story, he's much to selfless, to the point where he's forgotten to look after himself and those he cares about. I don't know why I can write teenagers well, I suppose I am still a child at heart myself maybe! Thank you for all your kind words and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Abby: I hope you enjoyed it!

Krystal1989: Draco is a lot of fun to write, flawed characters are a lot more interesting than perfect ones and I'm glad you find him dreamy! The storyline was never planned for this so it's great to know you like it. I hope you enjoyed this and thank you for sharing your thoughts!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Welcome back and a big thank you to all who have read, favorited and followed so far! Special thanks as always to my lovely reviewers who can find their replies at the bottom of the chapter!

Sitting in his bed, her back resting against the headboard Ginny watched the minutes on the alarm clock tick by. Slowly the moment was drawing nearer to the day she might have to face the worst family dinner of her lifetime. That would be saying something for a Weasley gathering as well.

Next to her Draco was still sleeping and she let her gaze travel over him, searching within for the slightest hint that she would rather be on good terms with her family than sitting in this bed watching him sleep. Finding nothing that wanted to leave or even a shadow of a doubt she allowed herself instead to dream over his shape to distract her mind from worrying. His hair was messy and fell in tangles over his forehead. She was ever so grateful he didn't slick it back anymore. It was a crime when it was so thick and soft and utterly touchable. Letting her eyes trail down the side of his face, the hollow of his cheek, the strong jaw. A trace of stubble was shading it and she felt an urge to have it scrape over her skin. As she had scraped her nails down his back last night. She could still see the faint marks on his shoulders. His wide, taut shoulders.

He sighed in his sleep and turned to lie on his back, the sheets slipping further down to leave his chest bare for her hungry gaze. Would it ever cease, she wondered, this yearning for him? Like a biting, pulling force that pulled her towards him that made her completely forget where she was and want to have all of him? Merlin, she hoped not. But if it ever did she would still have a caring, intelligent man who made her laugh by her side. That counted for a lot. More than she could put into words or express. Knowing that about him, had to count for more than her family's displeasure. Ginny felt the knowledge that this, him, them together, was worth it build stronger inside. They could do this. Their relationship was young and so far untested by anything worse than their teenagers but she knew they could do this. They could make it work. She wouldn't allow anything else.

o.O.o

Standing in front of the house Ginny wondered if she had ever felt such dread at approaching the Burrow ever before. She didn't think so. In front of her were James and Score, kicking in the gravel. Her son because he didn't want to go to "a stupid family dinner" as they were apparently "for babies". And Score because he was probably nervous for his father. He kept glancing over to him, clearly worried. Ginny's heart warmed at the sight of it though she knew it wasn't really a happy matter that Draco's son so clearly expected him to be hurt in some way meeting her family.

That, and her son's mood were dampers on her own already sagging spirits. Next to her Draco touched her shoulder.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes. Fine." She turned to him, slumping. "No, I'm not."

"I know. I can see that. Ginny, I'll be fine."

"You don't know that. Listen, Draco whatever…whatever happens in there, whatever they say, this, _us_, is what I want. I want to make this work."

"Me too. That's why I'm here. Besides, once they're done with me, will you kiss it better?" He slanted a smile at her and she felt her stomach flutter. Merlin, what this man could do to her.

"I will."

"Then I'm good to go."

"Right." She drew a deep breath. "Let's go." Walking up the path her heart beat loudly in her chest and she squeezed Draco's hand for reassurance. He returned it easily and with a last thought to life as it had been, she opened the door.

Stepping inside, James clearly at home there, disappeared into the depths of the house. Draco stood slightly behind her and she edged closer as if she could shield him from her family physically and this would help somehow. Score stood, silent and watching, also clearly ready to defend his father.

The room fell quiet as one by one saw him. She knew it wasn't news to them she was seeing Draco. Even if they didn't read the papers Ron would have let his ire spread by now. It might however be news he was coming over.

"Hi, all. Weather's great, isn't it? Can hardly believe it's Britain. What's for dinner, does anyone know? It smells great. I've hardly-" Draco laid a hand on her shoulder and she stopped babbling. Putting her hand over his on her shoulder, she drew a deep breath.

"Everyone, this is Draco Malfoy and his son, Score. They'll be having dinner with us."

"I don't think so." Fred stepped forward, his color high and his fists balled at his sides. "How dare you set foot in this house? If you take one more step I will hex you where you stand and-" Katie suddenly appeared and laid a hand on his arm, pulling him back. With one arm protectively around her pregnant belly she approached. Draco let go of Ginny and stepped forward. The tension was building fast and she was beginning to wonder if this had been a much worse idea than she originally thought.

"I'm sorry. I know it can never be enough but I am so sorry you got caught in my…" He swallowed, "In what I was doing. Please let me know if there is any way at all I can let you know how much I regret it." Katie tilted her head.

"I'll never understand it. This disregard for others. The will to do anything to anyone to get to your goal." She shrugged. "But I understand family and I know you were trying to save yours. I would have done almost anything myself in your shoes if He-Wh…if Voldemort, had kept my family locked up. And I trust Ginny." She held out a hand and stunned, Draco shook it. Katie nodded and then sighed as Fred stormed out, quickly followed by George. Following their husbands Angie and Katie left he room. In seconds the tension built high again as the group stood in silence. Then Mrs. Weasley came bustling though the door.

"Ginny, you're here! I didn't hear you come in. Why on earth are you standing in the doorway, come in, come in. You must be Score," the Weasley matriarch and the teenager straightened up.

"I am. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Weasley." Molly nodded in satisfaction.

"Polite. I like that. The others are out in the orchard, why don't you join them?" Score looked over his shoulder at his dad who nodded encouragingly.

"Ah, I think I would prefer to stay here." Then James returned, for once easing more tension than he created.

"Score, come on, we're playing three player Quidditch against Hugo and Dominic and Victoire and they're winning."

"I'm okay here."

"Come on, we need a third and you can do that dodge thing, that'll totally work." Score looked back at his dad again and once more Draco nodded.

"Go on, Score have fun." Reluctantly he stepped forward and impatiently James grabbed him and led him off.

"Stay clear of my clean laundry that's drying! If I have to wash it again you will all be ironing pillow cases until you reach retirement age!" Molly called before turning her attention to Draco.

"And you must be Draco." Ginny couldn't place the tone of her mum's voice. It was different to usual but she couldn't tell if it was tinged with disdain or hesitation. Or both.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Weasley. Ginny brought some biscuits you made recently and they were a marvel. I especially thought the cinnamon was a stroke of genius."

"Oh, I…thank you."

"Draco used to be a chef in a restaurant in London." Ginny piped in.

"I was a craftsman. You must be more of an artist." Molly cheeks grew pink and Ginny briefly wondered if a weakness to handsome former Slytherins perhaps ran in the family. On the female side.

"It's kind of you to say. I'm still trying to add something to it. I've been experimenting with nutmeg but it's just not quite right yet."

"Have you tried cardamom? Just a pinch?" Molly's eyes brightened.

"Of course. How clever you are. I'm going to have to try that. Now, come in and have a seat."

"Thank you. These are for you." Handing over the flowers he'd brought, from his own garden as Ginny had told him that would be more appreciated, Molly accepted delightedly.

"Oh, these are wonderful." Turning to take them to the counter, Ginny heard Ron mutter,

"Suck up." He got a rap over the head for his trouble and Molly hissed,

"It's called manners, Ronald Weasley, not that you'd know them if they bit you in the behind." Ginny saw Draco manfully try to hide his smirk and rolled her eyes. Men were such babies sometimes.

"So, Mr. Malfoy, I hear you live on the muggle side. Tell me, do you have a tilliphone?" She could have kissed her dad.

o.O.o

Draco didn't think it was going very well. Though he wasn't dead yet and that had to count for something in the present company. He was seated between Ginny and one of the eldest brother's wives, a French woman named Fleur. She had been delighted to find he spoke French and had chattered excitedly how her husband's forages into the French language was limited to food. Deciding the chances of getting on the good side of the men of the family were rather slim at the moment he had opted for getting some of the wives to convert instead. So he asked if it was any wonder when French food was so exquisite. She had giggled girlishly, which should have been ridiculous in a grown woman but with a youthfulness probably afforded her by the veela genes he recognized in her it somehow wasn't. Though rather airy in her manner he spotted a lot of it was an act. The woman was sharp but didn't mind letting her surroundings think she wasn't. He knew as a Slytherin the value of being more than you let on and he wondered if there weren't two people of similar values in the room already. Who would've thought?

Mr. Weasley was talking to his son Percy, he thought his name was, regarding some Ministry matter and Mrs. Weasley was talking to her eldest son. The anonymous second son with large scars on his forearms and his quiet wife were talking with Katie and Angelina. The rest of them were moodily staring at their plates or giving him angry looks. Well, besides Ginny who was returning the looks. The children had a separate table and he was pleased to see Score seemed to be accepted as a natural addition, much in part he suspected from James including him in the group. Perhaps, though he hardly dared to hope, he'd be included once term started again. Have friends. Friends in other houses, but friends anywhere but online would be a big step for Score. Feeling friendlier in general after seeing his son laugh at something James was saying Draco was abruptly brought back to reality when Ron slammed his fist on the table.

"Enough! I've had enough of this! He –" Ron got to his feet and pointed at Draco, "shouldn't be here. We can't sit and pretend he's one of us or even that he's welcome. If Harry were here he'd-"

"He'd what, Ron?" Ginny got to her feet as well, throwing her napkin down on the table. "What would he do? What would the mighty saint do if he knew his ex-wife was happy again? The horror!"

"Stop being sarcastic, it doesn't suit you. Did he teach you that?"

"No, Ron, I've always been sarcastic but Harry didn't like it so I stopped for the most part. I thought I don't need it anyway, I just need him. Do you know what else I thought? I'm so happy when he's here, it doesn't really matter how long I have to be alone in between. I thought that if James saw his dad sometimes it had to be better than never. But guess what, it's not and I am sick and tired of you telling me I was better off before because I - was - not - happy. And neither was he." As if the air had gone out of her she wilted a little and he touched her arm. He didn't want to get involved in any family arguments that would make it worse for her.

"Fine, Ginny, we get it, you weren't happy with Harry, but why him? Why is he here? He almost killed Katie!" Fred had gotten to his feet now. George soon followed.

"It was an accident!"

"Is that what he told you?"

"It's the truth! And I know what Draco was like back then, I was at school with you though you tended to forget! If you took one moment to stop being so damned self-righteous on your bloody high horses you'd see he's different now. He is not who he was and I thought that maybe someone but me in this house would see that!" Her breathing was heavy and her eyes shot lightning across the table. He was fairly sure this would soon develop into a fistfight.

"Ginny…" He made his voice as soft as he could. He'd been at the receiving end of one of her hexes before. He got up and put a hand to her shoulder. "Give them some time, you've known me for months now, they haven't."

"Months?" Ron's voice slid into falsetto range and if the situation had been different Draco would have laughed. Instead he cringed. So she hadn't told them that.

"Yes, Ron, _months_. Because I knew you were going to be like this and I wanted to keep him from it for as long as I could. But this is happening, whether you like it or not and I wish you would all trust me enough to know that when I say he has changed, he has."

"How can you expect us to take that on faith, Ginny? We do trust you but you're bringing a man to he house who _tried to kill Katie_. You can't expect us to forgive that." George had taken over now and Draco winced. This was not good.

"He tried to save his family! What would you do, George? If you were scared and alone and had no one to turn to? If Voldemort tortured our mother in front of you what would you do? If he threatened to put you under Imperio to make you do it to her yourself, what would you do?"

"_Ginny!_" He couldn't believe she would speak about it in front of others. What he'd spoken to her about in the darkest moments when he woke up from nightmares. She looked to be reining back her temper, her face horrified.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her hands to her mouth as if to silence it. "I'm so sorry. Draco…" He got up, feeling his insides tremble slightly.

"I…need some air. Excuse me."

o.O.o

The dinner party split up after that. Fred, George and Ron stalked off to one corner. Molly, Katie, Angie, Fleur and Hermione joined Ginny in the kitchen. Her dad, and the rest of the neutrals settled in the living room. The children slipped out.

Pacing over the floor Ginny wanted to pull her hair.

"What have I done? What I have I done to him? I promised. I promised him." Molly stood and pressed her down in a chair.

"Fleur, be a dear and put on some tea." For once the elegant French woman didn't object to a domestic chore and getting up she boiled the kettle and gathered cups. With her hands still on Ginny's shoulders Molly spoke.

"Sweetheart, you have to think about what you say sometimes."

"I know. I know I should. It's my temper, it just gets the better of me. They wouldn't listen and I…I wanted to make them _see_." Katie reached for Ginny's hand across the table.

"If it's any help at all, I can tell you I was going to be painfully civil to him before you said that. Now I know he was hurt a hundred times worse than I was. I'll never blame him for it, even a little, again." Ginny sniffed slightly.

"You can blame him a little. It was a stupid plan. He didn't have to involve anyone."

"Ginny, it was stupid because he didn't want to succeed." She'd never thought of it like that. But the truth was his attempts to kill Dumbledore had been very half-hearted. "But never mind that. He was in an impossible situation and I will be damned if I let Weasley stubbornness be the reason Fred hates him. He can dislike him all he likes, Merlin knows he was a pain at school, but he won't get to hate him for trying to keep his family safe."

"Thank you, Katie. You don't know what that means to me." Katie patted her hand.

"And don't feel too bad. The things I've blurted out in the heat of battle and regretted are too many to count. But now I have to pee because the baby is literally sitting on my bladder, then I'm going to go yell at Fred." Getting up, Angie stood too.

"I'd better go yell at George at the same time. They hear nothing you don't tell them together. Ginny, I'm….Well, like Katie said, I'm not sure I'll ever like him, but I don't blame him." She followed her friend and Ginny sighed. How could she have been so stupid? Why didn't she ever think before she spoke? She'd thought her dragged out arguments with Harry had worn the worst edge of the temper. In the end she hadn't even had the energy to summon it every time they fought. Tonight it had been back in full force when they attacked him, like a red fog across her mind.

"Tea. Drink." Her mum said as she set down the teacup in front of her.

"Mum, I really don't think tea is going to help."

"But you don't know. Have some tea, think of what you're going to say and then go find him." Her mum got up, patting her shoulder again and then started on the dishes. Tasting it she almost coughed. There was something other than just tea in this cup. A dash of something stronger. She sent Fleur a grateful look over the rim and the older woman smiled innocently before getting a dishtowel to dry. A night of firsts.

"Has he really changed? I mean aside from that he's not on the Dark Side anymore? He used to be such a prig." Hermione was asking and knowing she had borne a lot of the brunt of Draco's miserable little insults at school, Ginny replied.

"He has." She sipped her tea. "Do you really think I'd be together with someone who thought muggle borns were beneath him and called them…called them names? He's really different now."

"I hope for your sake you're right, Ginny."

"Have you spoken to his son?" Surprised, Hermione shook her head.

"Do. And bear in mind he raised him by himself." She set the tea down, feeling fortified by the small amount of liquor she'd had. It was false bravery but it was something. "I have to find him."

o.O.o

Score sat on the stairs to the upper floors. The way the house had looked from the outside he wasn't sure he'd dare go higher in fear of it all tumbling down. He had sought the quiet and was trying to sort out his feelings about the evening.

He had had a good time with James and his cousins. Most of them he knew from school but once James had said he was "all right for a Slytherin" no one had made further comment or alluded to what their attitude would be if they had been at school.

He was pretty happy with his Quidditch game, they'd evened out with the other three and he'd scored the winning goal. He even thought there had been something admiring in Rose Weasley's eyes by the time they were about to eat. Granted, she was a little eleven year old but he wasn't used to much popularity.

Then, as they had eaten (more than he should have he'd felt afterwards) the fighting had started. And it had been horrible, the things they'd said about his dad. He knew the story from his father's side but he could understand the others, who had been on the other side would have a hard time to accept it. His dad had told him this before they went tonight as well. He'd been strangely calm about it.

Ginny had been the one to be angry. She had raged at them, shouted. Fought like a…lioness, was the only thing Score could think of. His mother had never stood up for his dad in that way, had never gone against any wishes of her family and she hadn't loved them as much as he could tell Ginny loved her family. It had been…strange. It had made him almost…envious of James for having her as a mum. Someone who would do that for the people she cared about. It made his tummy feel funny from more then eating too much.

Then she'd blurted _that_ out. He'd known, it hadn't occurred to him to ever tell anyone but his dad had never said it was a secret. It had to be though, the way he'd reacted. Score had known, he'd _known_ his dad would get hurt this evening. He hadn't known it would be Ginny who would do it though. It made it harder. Torn between understanding she hadn't meant to and wanting to make the others stop attacking him and thinking she had been in the wrong to ever utter anything someone else had said was a secret he didn't know what to think.

"Hey." James had appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi." Standing indecisively he then trudged up and sat next to him.

"Is it…was it true?" He heard no sensationalism in the other boy's voice, no wish to bring scandalous news back to school. Would he? Score wasn't sure anymore.

"…Yeah." He looked down and James pulled his knee up to lean his chin on it.

"Then she shouldn't have said."

"No, I guess not." He swallowed a heavy lump in his throat.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"I think so. I haven't seen him." James nodded as if this was incredibly wise.

"Do you want to? I think I saw him go down to the orchard."

"I…I think he'd rather be alone." James nodded again.

"I don't think they're right about your dad, just so you know. I've met him, he's…Well, he's not like they say. I'm sure they'll get that." He gave a crooked smile. "In a while. They're a stubborn bunch." Score was less amused.

"Listen, Score. I…I know we're not…we've not really been real friends. But I…I think we should be."

"You do? As in when we go back to school?" For the third time James nodded, but this time decisively.

"Yeah. I…well, I was angry with you because I didn't want my mum to be with your dad. But I guess that's not really your fault. And…and my mum never fought with the family before. It's got to mean something. So if they're going to be…you know, together," her grimaced at the word. "Then we might as well be friends. For real." Still thinking Potter might be up to some weird joke now that they were in his grandparents' house, his turf, he frowned.

"So, when we're back at school and I walk down the hall you'll…?" Any of the usual? Push him? Call him names? Mock anything form his hair to his clear cut accent.

"I'll probably say hi. And ask if you wanna hang out after class. Then I'd hit you over the head with my potions book cause you're in Slytherin." Strangely it was the mention of the off-hand violence that convinced Score the most.

"I might say hi back. And tell you I'll be on the pitch until dinner. Then I'd probably punch you in the arm because you're a loser." James face split in a grin.

"Deal." He stood and held out his hand.

"Deal," Score replied as he got up and accepted the outstretched hand.

o.O.o

"Draco?" She saw him, standing in the orchard, the evening light still bright. He didn't turn when she called and feeling small she approached. "Draco, I came to say I'm sorry."

"I know."

"Truly. I promised you I wouldn't tell anyone and I did." He ran a hand through his hair and she wished she could see his face. But she didn't dare walk around him and look him in the eye. She was afraid of what she'd see. Feeling as if the distance between them was as real as if a ravine had opened in the ground, making it unable for her to reach him she wrapped her arms around herself.

"I heard."

"Draco, will you look at me."

"In a moment. Once I do I won't be able to be angry anymore and then…Then all that's left is…I don't know, Ginny, disappointment? I know it was the heat of the moment but some things are…incredibly private."

"I know. I understand." Her voice was small. Her hands shook. Had she ruined it? her life had been perfect, absolutely perfect and because of one evening it was going to break? The illusion would shatter and leave her alone again. She didn't know if she could take it.

"I trusted you…I trusted you wouldn't tell. I couldn't bear if it ever came out, if that moment was turned into some heart wrenching sob story for people to know and touch and then forget once it's out the door in the trash. I lived it, Ginny and I couldn't bear if that was…cheapened. It's the only way I can live with myself, knowing I had no choice. I won't let people into that past and let them judge what choice that was." Hugging herself tighter, thinking she might break if she let go she felt her insides wilt like flowers under frost. If she didn't know better she'd say a dementor had just swept past.

"I understand. I am so sorry, Draco. I'll…I'll get my things from yours in the morning while you're at work and I'll-" her voice wouldn't hold if she continued so she swallowed.

"What?" Finally he turned. "What the hell are you talking about?" She swiped at the traitorous tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes.

"My things. You won't want them there since you're breaking up with me now. I'll…I'll get them once I…"

"Breaking up with you? Who's breaking up?"

"You and me!" Her shout was weak. "I ruined it and now you're breaking up with me and I have to go home and know I deserve it." He frowned.

"Ginny, I am not breaking up with you. I was just trying to explain how I feel." The molten core of feelings that had simmered, ready to spurt out at any second steadied slightly as she held her breath.

"You're not breaking up with me?"

"Of course not. I only wanted to tell you I was…well, you know, how it felt." She sank down, her knees weakened in relief. Sitting on the grass he crouched down in front of her.

"Are you all right?" She reached for him and he brought her close.

"Yes. Yes, I am. I just thought this was going to be it. I couldn't…I…"

"Shh, of course not. Besides, what happened to the woman who fought for me in there like a tigress? Wouldn't you have put up a fight for me if you thought so?"

"Tomorrow." She sighed. "I would have fought tomorrow. I'm all out tonight." He shifted so he sat with his back to one of the old knobby apple trees and pulled her close so she was sitting curled on his lap.

"Yeah, it has been quite a day."

"I'll say. Let's go home."

"In a minute. I like it here." She turned in surprise.

"This particular spot, not you parents' house in general. Though I must say it's much less hovel-like than I expected." Her laugh was quiet but it chased off the reaming clouds. She would fight, like she'd said. She would always fight for him. Because finally she had someone who would let her stand with him and not behind.

A/N: Phew. Emotional biggie that one and more Weasleys to come soon so stay tuned! Hope you liked it!

Guest 1: I'm glad you think it's getting better every time, I hope I haven't disappointed with this one!

Johan Kira Expelliarmus: I'm pleased you liked to see Ginny take a bite out of Ron, hopefull you enjoyed it the second time as well! Thank you for your kind review!

Guest 2: Thank you for reviewing! There will be some truths for the Weasleys to realize, I agree! We'll see how long it takes them…

Pizziagirl: Thanks, as always!

Guest3: Working on it!

Charlotte Bird: I'm so happy you liked the chapter and my Oliver description. I had to look him up after you said and luckily (unluckily?) he still looks the same! So my imagination was rather off the mark if you go by the actors, lol. I bet you can guess who my twelve year old self fancied ;D

Roni2010: I hope you enjoyed seeing the Weasleys, there's more of them to come! Thank you for reviewing!

BlackRose851: Thank you, so glad you're still here and enjoying!

Pottermum: Ron can be rather narrow-minded indeed! Happy to hear you enjoyed, thank you for reviewing!

Maya Dellacour: Wow, thank you so much for your kind words! Reviews always help me get my stuff together so I can update so thank you for taking the time. I agree it can be incredibly dull to read about perfect people, flawed ones are much more interesting and I'm so glad you're enjoying my take on the characters!

Nutmeg44: I'm pleased to hear you like the kids' POV, I enjoy writing them a lot. Thank you for taking the time to drop a line and I hope you enjoyed seeing some Weasleys!

Blinck22: Thank you, I had fun writing Ginny taking a bit out of Ron (as you can tell by me repeating it here!) and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

: I'm so happy to hear you're liking it and can assure you I have every intention of continuing!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Welcome back! Real life has been a pain, sorry you all had to wait. To make up for it, this one's a double feature! I hope that makes up for some of the wait and that you all enjoy!

Ginny slammed the door shut and wincing slightly at the noise, Draco gestured for the two boys to go upstairs. Wizened by experience James slid quietly up the stairs, pulling a wide-eyed Score behind him. Deciding it was just as well the boys were upstairs for the language she wanted to use she stalked into the kitchen. He stopped just inside in the door and said nothing as she began to pace. After a minute she couldn't hold the ire in for a moment longer.

"How can they do this? The pure gall of it…I just…I can't believe they could be so stupid!"

"They just need some time, Ginny."

"Time? That horse they're sitting on is do damn high it'll take them years to climb down!"

"All your mother said was-" He trailed off as she whirled around on her heel, turning on him. Even as a little prick of hesitation nudged him, a memory of a bat bogey hex aimed at him from her that he would rather not experience again rising in his mind, he couldn't help thinking she looked beautiful when she was angry. Her eyes had brightened with it and were almost amber in color, seemingly shooting sparks. Her hair that had been let down from its orderly knot was curling madly catching the light like coils of fire. A flush had risen on her cheeks and her chest was heaving with her breaths. She looked stunning. Sensing it wasn't the time to share this opinion he crossed his arms over his chest.

"All she said? All she said? All she said was you weren't welcome in her house!"

"That's not strictly-"

"She might as well have!" The memory made her hands shake. They had left the peaceful spot in the orchard and preparing to leave her mother had come out of the house into the garden. Her walk had been stiff and stopping in front of them she had wrung her hands.

"Ginny…Dr…hrm, Draco." She looked away and then back at them. "I think, considering tonight, it might be best if…If we give it a little time before you come back, Draco. Feelings are running high and, well, I…"

"What?" Ginny's tone rose and Draco laid a hand on her arm. She shrugged it off.

"No. Don't try and placate me, what the hell is that supposed to mean, mum?"

"I just think, it's a sore topic and everyone needs some time to adjust. It's-"

"You're telling me my boyfriend is not welcome in my childhood home?"

"Of course he's welcome but maybe in a little bit when-"

"You're really doing this? You're seriously telling me because Ron didn't like Draco at school you're going to ban him from the house?"

"I'm not banning him, sweetheart, I just think-"

"I don't give a damn what you think, actually. You're all hypocrites and you can go back to your cozy house and pretend the war never happened. Sit in there and _gloat_ that other families were torn apart and destroyed forever and you managed okay. Do that and while you're at it, pretend I'm there with you because until Draco is welcome, I'm not coming back."

"Ginny…" Her mum's tone was pleading but she ignored it, feeling anger boil in her blood. Her mind was roaring with the force of it and she had to take a few calming breaths to manage the side-along Disapparation with James.

The kitchen came back into her view and she felt as if the temper would choke her. It had nowhere to go, she had no one to take it out on. For a wild moment she wanted to call Harry and tell him all the things she never had out of consideration.

"I have an idea." Draco spoke and she fought to keep her voice under control.

"An idea?"

"Give me a second to make a call." In a minute he was back, a sly smile on his face. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then close your eyes." He put his arm around her waist and frowning as she had no idea what he was up to, she closed her eyes. In a moment she felt the familiar tug of Apparition and the cool evening air on her face. "Just a second," he said and moved away. Feeling vulnerable with her eyes closed when she had no idea where she was, she wrapped her arms around herself. "Okay, you can look now." She opened her eyes to see him stand in front of her, a grin on his face and two broomsticks in his hands. Behind him a very familiar sight greeted her. The national quidditch stadium. They were standing in the VIP box and the pitch stretched in front of of them. There was no match on tonight so the field was dark and the seats empty and quiet.

"Want to fly, Weasley?" He tilted his head and she nodded,

"How on earth did you manage this?"

"Contacts. Now, go, blow off some steam." He tossed her the broomstick and catching it she felt the familiar weight in her hand, the smooth wood feeling almost warm to the touch. With a grin of her own she leaped over the railing of the stand and let the broom take her weight. Cool night air brushed her face and she leaned forward, picking up speed. Her hair whipped behind her, snapping in the wind. The force of it pressed her clothes to her body and tears from her eyes. Dropping suddenly she closed a loop before kicking out and entering a spin. The exertion made her breaths quicken and she felt her muscles warm, feeling almost oiled. Pulling up from the dive at the last second she climbed again before evening out. Seeing Draco just sitting on his broom watching her, she hovered closer.

"That's some skills you've got there."

"Are you saying you want a handicap when we race?" She teased with a smile and he shook his head.

"I never made a professional team but I'll enter on even terms."

"First one around the pitch wins." Then she zoomed off and laughed when she heard him swear behind her. She was impressed when she heard him catch up and leaned closer over her broom. In the end she won, but she did have to work for it. Straightening up she swept her hair out of her face.

"You've picked up some tricks of your own since school."

"You only know the half of it."

"I do? Then why don't you wow me with the other half?" For another hour they zoomed about the pitch and Ginny felt the anger starting to fade a little. It didn't go away but it evened out, stretched to lie under her skin rather than bursting out of her. Sinking down on the grass, panting slightly from the exertion she sat on the grass, her feet on the mid-pitch line in the grass. Joining her, he sat as well. The night was actually cold now and Ginny was glad to feel the silky air cool her cheeks.

"Draco, how are you so calm about this? Don't you feel angry?" He pulled his legs up, wrapped his arms around his knees and peered into the darkened stands. His hair was windblown and he'd undone the first two buttons in his shirt. Her heart skipped slightly at the sight of the smooth skin at the hollow of his throat. His pulse was beating visibly and she wanted to press her lips to it, feel the beating of his heart under her mouth. He turned his gaze back to her, the slate grey color warmed by the look in them.

"I'm angry that they made you upset. But no, I'm not angry with them."

"Is this your inner martyr speaking? I know you think you deserve this but I really think you're wrong."

"Maybe you're right about that. Merlin knows I've heard it from anyone who knows me. Blaise, in his not so eloquent manner, from Score and from you. But however I've changed, I can't change what I was from the start. The second I forget that I'm back there." She opened her mouth to protest but he continued, "I know, you don't think so. But that's the way, the only way, I can deal with what happened. Maybe one day it will be different. Maybe I'll feel so far from that boy that I can let him be buried. But not yet. I have too much to prove still."

"I still think my family's wrong. They're being stubborn."

"Color me surprised." She punched him gently in the arm and he chuckled. She laid back with a sigh, the stars winking above her. The grass was just beginning to gather dew.

"How did you know this was what I needed?"

"I know you." Her lips twitched.

"And pretty well too. What am I thinking right now?" He turned slightly so he could look at her. Arching a brow, he responded,

"That you want to ravage me right here on this pitch."

"Merlin, you're good." She laughed and pulled him back, his warm weight settling over her.

o.O.o

"I hate this place." Blaise said grimly as he increased the speed on the treadmill.

"Then leave. I thought this was the one place I'd be able to avoid you." The gym was almost empty except for the three men. Draco had felt a niggling annoyance ever since the Wesley dinner and was hoping working out some frustration would help. Neville could be found at the gym most days and Blaise, though he complained, Draco knew was there mainly for silent support. Well, unspoken anyway as he rarely stayed silent.

"I wish I could. My mum served profiteroles at dinner last night. She knows I have a weak spot for them. Evil witch."

"Zabini, your whole existence is a weak spot in humanity."

"Doesn't look weak to me," Neville said, grinning as he glanced over at Blaise. The dark Slytherin winked at him and then turned back to Draco.

"I always liked him better. So much smarter than you, not to mention observant."

"Maybe you should go to his house and steal his beer."

"They only have light beer," Blaise said and wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"It's quidditch season, Ollie has to stay off the real stuff until October." Both Draco and Blaise kept their mouths wisely shut that Oliver had been to both their houses to beg a real beer and real food as his boyfriend was keeping the house strictly low fat, low carb and low alcohol every year during the season.

"I think you just like torturing him." Neville grinned and wiped some sweat from his neck with a towel he'd brought.

"It's all for love."

"You're a sadistic bastard, Longbottom."

"Better than being a masochistic one like Malfoy. Putting yourself in the grasp of the Weasleys…I'm surprised you walked out with all your limbs still attached." Blaise snorted in amusement at Neville's comment and snatched Draco's water bottle to drink from it.

"Do you have some kind of pathological need to steal anything I drink?" He snatched it back and Blaise grinned at him. "And Longbottom, don't remind me. Ginny's still in a mood over it and knowing the Weasleys it'll come down to stubbornness. The sun might go out before that thing's resolved."

"How do you…I mean, do you think it's going to work out in the end?" Serious now, Neville was frowning in concern.

"I don't know." Draco shook his head. "I know that she can never live without them. It might be years until she admits it but she needs them and there is no way I can compete. They have to either accept us or I'm looking at losing her."

"I don't know, she's pretty convincing when she wants to be." Blaise gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"He's right. If anyone can turn the whole clan, it's the littlest one," Neville agreed.

"Maybe. But if anyone can turn them all against me, it's Potter and he hasn't weighed in on the matter yet." Draco increased the speed on the treadmill and let his breaths drown out the sound of his thoughts.

o.O.o

Ginny checked the fridge and realized there was barely anything in it. She and James spent more and more time at Draco's house, both happier to be in what felt like a real home whereas their little house had always felt like a stop on the way. She had always wanted to get something bigger and James had made his feelings on the matter very clear. He still missed the house they had lived in before the divorce. Deciding she would have to go shopping if they were to eat she began writing a list on the magnetic pad on the front of the fridge. The pen jumped in the middle of the word "toast" when she heard a pop behind her. Turning she was surprised to find her fuming ex-husband behind her. His voice was low, almost shaking from the effort it took for him to control it as he held up the old newspaper with the article by Rita Skeeter in it.

"Is it true?" He thrusted it forward. "Is it?"

"Yes." She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Ron must've told you by now."

"No, I've been on call for two months. I haven't spoken to anyone." Including his son, which would explain James' foul mood lately.

"I did tell you I was seeing someone."

"Why him, Ginny?" She crossed her arms in front of her.

"He's changed, Harry. He's different now."

"Men like him don't just change."

"He's a father now, he has a family. His son is a sweet, well-adjusted boy."

"I didn't say anything about his son. I'm talking about him. He's never going to change."

"And how do you know? You said yourself he wasn't really a Death Eater."

"No, but he wasn't good either."

"No, he wasn't. But he is now. Harry, he's completely different, he-" Harry interrupted her.

"Has James met him?"

"Of course he has. He likes Draco."

"Ginny, I don't want that…man around my son."

"You don't want him around your son. _You don't want him around your son?_" The conversation which had been held in hushed, intense tones grew louder as Ginny's pitch rose. "Then who exactly do you want around him, Harry? Is he to have no one? You're never around, my brothers have lives and children of their own. Draco has time for him, wants to spend time with him."

"And you think I don't?"

"I think you never do." He looked as if was about to start shouting but then his shoulders slumped.

"I'm so sick of having this fight, Ginny."

"So am I." He ran a hand through his hair and threw the newspaper on the table.

"We used to be friends, didn't we?"

"We did."

"I miss that. I miss you, Ginny."

"I miss you too, Harry, and what we had once. But it's not coming back. I'm with Draco now and I'm happy."

"I don't trust him."

"Fine."

"And I still don't want him around James."

"I don't really care, Harry, to be honest." He opened his mouth, his brow creasing. Then he shook his head, shrugged.

"Fine."

"Why don't you go up and talk to James instead?"

o.O.o

The hex burned into the wall next Draco's head and he whirled around. He had been peacefully making coffee in the kitchen when he was rudely interrupted. Behind him stood Harry Potter. Not many weeks passed when his picture wasn't in the papers but to see him in real life, older, more worn somehow brought it closer. This wasn't Harry Potter the savior, the hero. This was Harry Potter, Ginny's ex-husband and James' father. The Harry Potter Draco understood he rarely got to be.

"Merlin, Potter, what the _hell_ is your problem?"

"You. You are my problem. You used my son to get close to my wife."

"I believe that's ex-wife, Potter." The second spell shot out and Draco ducked.

"You used him to get to her and you put your filthy hands on her." Everything Draco usually fought against was brought to the surface in the face of the old wound Potter represented so he smirked, leaned forward over the kitchen island.

"I did. She wanted me to." With a roar Harry fired another spell, this one burning a hole where Draco's hand had rested a split second earlier. Draco pulled his wand from his sleeve and hurled a hex that hit Harry in the chest, making him stumble backwards, slightly stunned.

"I told her she was wrong when she said you wouldn't care about us seeing each other."  
"Wouldn't care?" Harry wheezed, "You think I _wouldn't care_ that you're sleeping with my wife?" At the last syllable he managed another spell and focused on his words Draco felt the force of it hit him in the jaw. His lip split under the pressure and surprised he saw blood when he raised his hand to touch it. Breathing hard, he managed,

"You keep repeating I'm sleeping with her. Is that all you care about? Because I am doing so much more. I love her, more than I've ever loved any woman."

"She's…not for you." Potter struggled to stand up straight again.

"No, maybe not. But she's not for you either. For some blessed reason that eludes me that I wake up and thank fate for everyday, she chose me. And – I always was smarter than you – I'm not letting her go. I will marry her one day and I will watch her raise our children and you will be nothing but a fleeting thought, no more part of her life then than you are now. Just face it, Potter, you blew it."

o.O.o

Ginny stopped dead in the doorway, the bag of groceries thudding to the floor. "What on earth happened?" Draco was sitting at the table using a cold beer both to settle his nerves and hold the cold bottle to his split lip.

"Oh, your ex-husband paid me a visit." He said airily.

"_Harry_ did this?"

"Most of it. I helped a little." She closed the distance between them, bent forward and tilted his head up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Either he was too angry to focus or he needs a new prescription. He only managed the one hit." Her hands curled into fists at her sides. The kitchen was in shambles and Draco was bleeding. Logically she knew it wasn't so bad. Her brothers would often get worse scrapes when they fought each other and the kitchen just needed a few "reparos" but the thought of Harry thinking he had the right to do this made her see red.

"How dare he? How can he have the gall to come into your own house and attack you?"

"Because he has nothing to lose. He already lost you and James." Draco said and tiredly got to his feet.

"Are you placating me?" She narrowed her eyes.

"I wouldn't dare. Besides, it's sexy when you're angry. With somebody else." She put her hands to her hips and he held up his hands in defense. "Hey, injured party, remember?" Throwing her hands up and shaking her head she nudged him gently back in the chair again, pulling her wand from her sleeve.

"Why can't men just talk about things?" She tilted his head up again and muttered a healing spell. Hissing as the skin knitted together he grimaced.

"Well, in Potter's case it seems to be raging jealousy clouding his mind. He kept repeating I couldn't sleep with you. I don't think he gets that it's more."

She let go of his jaw and tightened her hold on her wand. "Doesn't he now? Maybe I'll have to tell him."

"Absolutely. But as I don't want to go to prison for instigation of murder, maybe wait until tomorrow?" He got up again and walked over to the freezer, grabbing a bag of peas to put to his face.

"Are you saying you think I can't control my temper enough to not resort to violence?"

"No." He turned, his eyes innocently wide. "I'm saying I know it."

"You know I've a good mind to...Wait. You're manipulating me." She brought her hands back to her hips. "You want to make me angry at you instead so I won't go kick Harry in the shins."

"I would never. Besides, you're way too smart for manipulation."

"Okay, you just confirmed it. Why on earth would you protect him?" Draco came back and sat on the chair, the bag of peas still pressed to his face.

"To be honest I feel kind of bad for him. He's lost you, he's lost James and he can't do anything about it. He'll always be torn in two directions. That has to suck. Though nothing would give me more pleasure than seeing you beat him up I would prefer if it was because he hurt my pretty face rather than in murderous rage. He has enough to recover from." She crossed her arms and tilted her head.

"Why? What did you say to him?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

"Why? He didn't like it and I didn't expect him to. Do we really have to go through it?"

"I think we do. What did you say that would have upset him enough for you to pity him?" He didn't respond and she closed in on him. "Hmm?" She put a hand to his cheek and brought him to face her. Meeting his eyes she saw tenderness and something else struggle for hold. Then he shook his head.

"No, not now. One day I'll tell you."

"One day? When?"

"Please, Ginny, it's not important, leave it be." His voice was pleading and she gave up.

"Fine. Fine. But I'll go see Harry tomorrow and explain to him what I think about him storming in here and destroying your kitchen. And the price for hurting your pretty face."

"Okay. Thank you." He took her hand and pulled her close to sit on his lap.

"Oh, and I will find a way to pull it out of you, what you told him."

"I have no doubt." He leaned his head on her shoulder and she let him.

A/N: We finally saw some Harry! I hope you're all glad to see him, finally, and enjoyed. If you left a review your response is in the next chapter – onwards! S.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: For once, not such a long wait! I won't keep you but thanks to all who read, favorited and followed. Tiny warning, I have one curse above the rating but I don't want to change it for the whole story just because of that, so please be warned about the one tiny piece of profanity.

Special thanks to my amazing reviewers at the bottom.

S.

For a few weeks nothing happened, she heard nothing from her family and her dad got uncomfortable whenever she gently prompted him for the feelings at home while at work. Ginny began to feel a little worried. Stubbornness ran deep in her family but her own was wearing. She hadn't seen any of them for a long time now. Then one day, out of the blue, she had an owl from Bill. He and Fleur were asking her and Draco to come to dinner. That was something at least. Feeling happy enough to laugh out loud she spun in the kitchen. This was great. This was the beginning of the change. She just knew it.

After a successful dinner at Bill's, one from Charlie had followed, then to her surprise, one from Percy. All three of her eldest brothers had been polite and she thought by the end of each dinner even slightly thawed. Sensing her mother's influence she decided that even if an olive branch wasn't in order yet, a leaf might be appropriate.

o.O.o

For the second time they stood together in front of the Burrow and Ginny didn't know if she felt better or worse than the last time. She felt better because she knew what to expect this time. Worse because she knew what was to come. James looked determined, Score apprehensive and Draco quietly uncomfortable. His shoulders were slightly drawn up as if he was on guard and uncharacteristically his hands were in his pockets. It pained her that not one of their little group was looking forward to the visit. This wasn't how visiting family should be. Taking Draco's hand she almost said they should turn around and go back. But her pride prevented her and with a sinking feeling in her stomach she opened the kitchen door and stepped in.

The same silence as last time met them again but this time her three oldest brothers greeted Draco and Score with nods before returning to their conversations. Her mum and dad approached, her mum's eyes slightly moist as she hugged Ginny and pulled Draco into a conversation. Score and James disappeared into the house and feeling a little of the tension leave her shoulders she sighed. The relief was short-lived however as Harry stepped in.

"Harry?" The silence that suddenly fell in the room was heavy and stuffy, like the air before a storm.

"Ginny." He had come straight from work, the badge pinned to his robes gleaming. Without a glance at Draco he went in and joined Ron at the table. Without a word his friend immediately angled himself so he was between Draco and Harry, as if shielding him from his presence. Turning away from them, Ginny sought Draco's hand and he squeezed it in comfort.

o.O.o

Hermione had quietly slipped out of the room and scanning the garden she found the Malfoy kid sitting on the wall, watching James and Dominic hurl gnomes over the garden boundary. Rose and Hugo were laughing a little way off where they were watching a few of the gnomes fight over a fallen apple. The sight of her two children warmed her heart. They spent most of their times, Weasleys as they were, either mortal enemies or fast friends. That they at the moment at least were friends made her smile.

"Hello," she greeted the young boy. He turned when he heard her.

"Hi." His tone was vaguely questioning but not rude so she continued.

"You're Malf…Mr. Malfoy's son? Scorpius?"

"Score," he corrected quickly. "Yes. And you're Mrs. Granger-Weasley. You were at school with my dad, weren't you?"

"I was."

"Are you here to check if I'm like him?"

"No." Hermione's lips twitched, the boy was perceptive. "Maybe." She sat down on the wall as well, looking out over the garden and the fields beyond. "You look like him."

"I do." It was neither a question nor an admission.

"I…So what's your favorite subject at school?" Merlin, her children were right, sometimes she really was "lame".

"Transfiguration."

"Really? Do you like Professor Strathearn?"

"I do. I think the course book he chose is rather unstructured though. It puts partial transfiguration ahead of transcendal and I don't think that argues very well for the regulation adherence in later, more advanced procedures." Hermione blinked.

"Does your dad share your view?"

"No, he's a traditionalist. His approach is more Brandonian Sinclair-ish."

"I…" Enthusiasm won over consternation and she spoke quickly. "Then how does he explain the Carthmus principle?"

"Well, that's partly my point and he thinks Aperthullus the younger answers all questions."

"You seem to discuss some pretty advanced Transfiguration with your dad."

"Some games take forever to load. Have to talk about something." Hermione nodded.

"Of course." She realized what Ginny had meant when she asked her to talk to the son. The Draco Malfoy they had known could not have raised a son like this boy. She knew Ron would tell her she was blinded by the fact she was giddy at the thought of a boy in third year who could discuss sixth year Transfiguration theory with ease, but that wasn't the point at all. It had nothing to do with the level of his reasoning but that the father and the son clearly talked to each other and enjoyed doing so. That the son held a different view, and was allowed to. Lucius Malfoy would have never allowed his son a divergent view. Sharing the son's interests and hearing the respect the boy had for his father was what convinced Hermione Draco Malfoy must have really changed.

Saying goodbye to Score she went back into the kitchen and as if fate had heard her thoughts it was empty save for Malfoy. He was leaning against the counter, looking out into the garden.

"Malfoy."

"Grang…Mrs. Weasley." He fell silent and she could tell he was uncomfortable. That helped.

"I was just talking to your son."

"Oh." He glanced out in the garden and she realized he must've seen the exchange but he hadn't gone out to see if she was perhaps telling him about what a twit his father had been at school.

"He's a clever boy."

"He is. And coming from you I suspect that's a higher compliment than usual." She nodded in acknowledgement at the returned compliment and crossed her arms.

"He thinks your approach to Transfiguration theory is outdated and leans too heavily on Brandon and Sinclair."

"He talks a good game but he doesn't like acknowledging the Vespa-Contini findings."

"But your approach disregards the Carthmus…No, I didn't come in here to discuss academic Transfiguration."

"Shame." He smiled and she could suddenly see why her sisters in law found him attractive. Until then all she had ever been able to see was the hateful, pointy faced little git.

"Malfoy, did you ever realize what it was you called me?" His smile waned and his eyes darkened. He pushed off the counter, straightened.

"No. I knew it was hateful and would hurt you." He stepped closer. "And I am sorry. More than you can know and if you can ever think of a way I can show that, I will listen." She nodded. It was better that he hadn't known. Had thrown the word around him like it was a mine, when really it was a poison.

"I don't know, Malfoy. I don't think we can ever be friends, but I don't hate you." A tired smile flew over his features. 

"That's something."

o.O.o

Getting some air on the porch his short-lived peace was interrupted by Potter coming out. Tensing, he checked his wand was still lodged securely in his sleeve. Harry closed the door with measured movements and walked over to lean on the porch rail. A beer dangled from his hand. Without turning to look at him, he spoke.

"I know how you did it now."

"Did what?"

"Wrangled yourself into James' life. You used him. You used him to get close to Ginny by pretending you care about him."

"You don't give him a lot of credit."

"He's a child. He might be taken in by gifts and..."

"And what?" Draco pushed himself up from leaning against the wall. "Finally having some attention?"

"Don't presume you know the relationship I have with my son!" Harry straightened and turned.

"Do you mean the one where you disappear for weeks at an end and he doesn't know if you're dead or alive? Where you don't call or meet or even send a damn letter? Where you shower him in money he doesn't need to drown your own guilt? The one where all he wants is talk to his dad who is nowhere to be found?" Harry's eyes flashed and his shoulders shook, a reaction Draco was so used to seeing in a skinny boy it surprised him to see it in the grown man.

"Don't you dare, Malfoy. You've made him think you're there for him, think that he can depend on you."

"I am and he can."

"You're in it for nothing but to get in Ginny's bed." Draco felt the tiredness give way to fury. Stepping forward, he lowered his voice, the danger trembling at the edges of it.

"You don't give her much credit either, Potter. I will listen to any weak insult you throw at me but mention her and I will beat you into a pulp." With a deep breath he stepped back slightly, fought for control. This was Potter's turf and if he touched him he'd be buried under a mountain of Weasleys. "Listen. I like your kid. He's smart and funny and he doesn't whine too much when I beat him at video games. Though I will never understand his fascination with Arithmancy he has good taste in music and he plays a fair game of quidditch. If Ginny and I would for any reason not make this work then I would still be happy to beat his ass at GTA or help him practice quidditch. If you think you and Ginny are the only people thinking spending time with him is worthwhile, then you're not giving him his fair due."

"James doesn't even like Arithmancy," Harry scoffed.

"Merlin." Draco dragged a hand through his hair.

"Are you saying I don't know him? My own son?"

"I don't want to have some kind of pissing contest about who knows him best, Potter. Can we leave it at the fact I am there, and you're not."

"No! You will never get it, Malfoy. _You will never be his father_. You weren't there for his first steps, his first word, his first time on the school train.

"Neither were you." He knew it was petty but he was properly angry now.

"Yes, I was, you think I don't know?"

"No, you weren't. Ginny told me. James' first word wasn't "mummy" like you heard him say. It was "no". His first step was when you were out on call. Ginny felt so bad you had missed it she didn't tell you. But being a father is more than milestones, Potter. It's every day. Every hour and every minute of your life. It's not something you turn off and on."

"Don't you think I know that? I _am_ his father."

"I have no fucking idea. And I don't think James does either." Harry leaped forward, grabbing Draco by the front of his shirt.

"Listen, Malfoy you-"

"Dad!" James stepped out with Score close behind him. "Stop it!"

"Jamie, go inside. This is between me and Malfoy." He wasn't looking at James and Draco wished he could punch Potter.

"No, it's not. You're arguing about me."

"James, go inside. Find your mother." Harry's voice was dark and Draco wondered if he should tell the boys to go inside. This could turn ugly for real any second.

"I won't. I'm not a baby anymore, dad. Let go of Draco. He's done nothing wrong."

"Jamie, I know it's hard for you to understand but Malfoy is not really your friend. He's just trying to get...closer to your mum."

"No, he's not. I know what it looks like when someone is just pretending to listen or when they really think you're just a stupid kid and humor you. Draco isn't like that." Draco could hear tears in the dark haired boy's voice now.

"You don't know that, James. You're just a child, I know you don't want to believe that but-"

"No! No, I'm not a child. And it's you! You're the one who doesn't listen. You _never_ listen to me. You never even _see_ me when you look at me. You think everything's the same as before but it's not. I'm not five years old anymore. I don't like toy cars and stupid books about dinosaurs. And mum's happy now. For real happy. Not just a face she puts on for you because you're too stressed when you're home to put up with being there otherwise. She just wanted to be close to you. I just wanted to be close to you. But you're _never there_. And I'm sick of it." Harry's grip slackened and James whispered,

"I hate it."

With wonder in his voice Potter managed, "Jamie..."

"Go away. We don't need you anymore!" He pushed Potter backwards, his small frame only managing to make him take a few steps back. He let go of Draco's collar and his arm fell limply to his side. "I never want to see _you_ again, how about that! Now you can go off and be happy and forget about us properly. See how it feels!"

"James..." This time it was Draco who spoke his name and he put a hand on the boy's narrow shoulder.

"No, don't tell me to be nice to him. _I hate him!_" With that he rushed off.

Ginny suddenly appeared as Harry spoke, slowly as if he were sleepwalking,

"I have to go after him…I'll…"

"I think you've done enough for today, Harry. I'll go."

"No. I will." Draco squeezed Ginny's shoulder before going after James.

o.O.o

"Hey." Embarrassed, James swiped at the traitorous tears when he heard Draco's voice. "Oh no, you don't. You can cry all you want. I won't tell." He kneeled then, making him shorter than James and he looked him in the eye. "It's okay." Then he hugged him close and James felt like a dam had burst open. For so long the resentment had just trickled into it, filling it higher and higher and he had tried to fight it. Had tried to direct it at his mum, at others at school. But under it all he had always know it was his dad's fault. Maybe he thought James wasn't interesting enough or smart enough or brave enough to be with. But no matter how hard he tried his dad was always so far ahead, like a mirage in front of him on a road. No matter how fast he ran he could never catch up.

Holding onto Draco as the sobs wracked him, the older man said nothing, just held him, slowly stroking his back. It felt different from when his mum did it, she would always speak, or hum and try to make him feel better. But Draco just let him cry, never once giving any sign his legs were tired or his knees sore. After what felt like an eternity the tears slowly ebbed away. Nudging him down on one of the fallen trees around them the blond man kept his arm around his shoulders.

"I wanted to say thank you, James. For sticking up for me."

"That's okay. You did nothing wrong." He swiped at some left over tears on his cheek with his sleeve.

"I hope not. It's a tricky balance but I want you to know it's true. I care about you for you and I like you even more because you're part your mother's. But even if that's not meant to be, between your mother and I, you can always come to me anyways."

"I know." Embarrassed again, James looked away.

"Do you? Because I don't think you believe it entirely."

"I do. Now. After what you told my da...him." Draco nodded.

"That's good then. In fact, I have something for you."

"Isn't it a bit late to be buying my loyalty?" James joked weakly and Draco elbowed him gently.

"Ha ha. This is a bit different. Though I think a new game might be in the works if you play your cards right. There has to be something you can occupy yourselves with so I can spend time with your mum without you tadpoles hanging about. But this is a bit different." He took a gallon from his pocket and handed it to James.

"A galleon? I do have money, you know."

"Oh, I know. This is not an ordinary one. It's a messenger coin. You always keep it in your pocket and it heats up when it receives a message. I believe your aunt invented them. They're for emergencies. Score has one too."

"For me?"

"Yes, for you. So anytime you really need me I can be there in a minute." James felt the hot tears well in his chest again and blinked rapidly. Giving Draco a hard hug he pulled back. He put the coin in his pocket and suddenly felt a wave of guilt sweep over him

"I…I don't really hate him."

"I know."

"I mean…I hate what he does."

"I get it. I don't hate my dad, but I hated what he did. But that was on a whole other level than this."

"Did he…Was he horrible? Score says he was."

"Score's a little biased. But no, Lucius Malfoy wasn't a nice man." James nodded. Carefully Draco continued, "You don't have to, but maybe you should talk to Pott…your dad. Let him know you don't really hate him too?" Quietly James nodded again.

"Will you come with me?"

"Sure, anytime."

A few minutes later Draco left James talking quietly to his dad, who sat on the porch with his head bent and for once just listened. Knowing the boy would be all right for now he went to settle the second upset party of the whole affair. When he approached the house Mrs. Weasley came out and called gently.

"She's in the shed. She goes there when she wants to think." Nodding in thanks he turned and set off in the direction she indicated

o.O.o

"I can't believe him. I can't believe he won't _see_!" Draco closed the door to the shed quietly. She heard him enter and let the ranting grow audible outside of her head. "The shed" was more of a hobby room for her dad than a musty shed, really. It had been built just a few years ago when the siblings had gotten together to pay for a space for all her dad's "junk" as her mum called it. Harry had wanted to pay for it all, she remembered, but no one had let him. Now her dad used it to tinker with his various projects (and occasionally, she suspected, to sneak away from his wife to listen to games broadcasts on his radio).

Windows high on the walls let in pale shafts of sunlight and it fell in wide rectangles over the workbenches and the dumpy couch. Ginny paced back and forth trying to loosen the anger lodged in her chest.

"I can't believe he would be so awful to you after…After…"

"Hey, hey." He caught her arm and she turned towards him. "It's okay. I'm okay."

"You are? I'm not sure you should be after that. I'm not sure I am. He just…just doesn't get it!"

"Ginny, the last time he saw me I was standing on the Hogwarts grounds with the losing side in the war, ready to be taken to trial. You've seen me since, but he hasn't."

"I don't care. If nothing else, that I know should be all he needs. He's supposed to be the one who knows me the best but he doesn't trust me at all…and how are you so okay with this? With what he said to you?" He looked away and sighed.

"I'm not really. I just know this. You and you're family have a bond, a strong one I can only understand now that I have Score. Potter is part of that family and he was long before he married you, so he always will be part of it. I know that if he wants them to hate me, they will. And for as long as your family continues to disapprove I don't stand a chance in keeping you. You might be able to live with it for a while but it would always be there, between us, like a wish you can't have."

"That's not true."

"It is. You love your family, as you should. They love you, which is why they're taking it so hard you're with me. I wouldn't – couldn't – stand in the way of that."

"It's true that I would love for them to like you, to see who you are now. But I won't give you up because they don't like it, Draco." She put a hand on to his cheek. "You don't believe me, do you?" He smiled, a touch sadly.

"I just know you. Your family is everything to you." He put his hands on her arms, rubbing softly.

"_You_ are everything to me, Draco." The feelings he'd woken when he defended her son, told Harry how he enjoyed his company and cared for him as his own person rose within her. "I…I've been meaning to tell you that…for a while now…" She forced herself to meet his gaze. "…that I…I love you." She felt his hands on her arms tighten and his eyes widened.

"I…"

"I know it's early and we've only known each other a couple of months but I…I wanted you to know." She rushed and looked away. "But if you're not ready, that's fine…I, I get it." Backing away she cleared her throat uneasily.

"No. Wait." He took a stumbling step towards her. "Ginny… those words…they…they haven't been easily uttered in my family. They are, to me, next to sacred. I would never use them unless I really…" Ginny felt her heart start to sink in her chest. He didn't love her. He didn't love her as she'd thought. He took another step and closed the distance between them again. "They're not easy for me to say…But I still know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I love you, Ginevra Weasley. I love you more than you can ever know."

When he kissed her in the sunlight in her father's shed Ginny felt the world shift like a kaleidoscope turning, all the pieces the same but suddenly rearranged into a new, brighter, more colorful whole. This was what life was really meant to be. Where it began. For the second time maybe, but a beginning all the same.

A/N: Whew! Still a little more to go but we are getting closer to the end, my pretties. I hope you have enjoyed and stay tuned.

Guest 1: I am very happy to hear the last chapter didn't disappoint you, there was a lot of expectations riding on it!

RockaRosalie: I hope you enjoyed seeing some Harry! Thank you for reviewing!

Johan Kira Expelliarmus: I'm pleased to hear you enjoyed my little twist of making the worst mistake of the evening Ginny's own slip up. Thank you very much for your kind reviews, it's great to see you're still around.

Pizziagirl: Thank you!

Pottermum: It was a biggie! I'm glad to hear you think I pulled it off, reactions staying in character was a particularly tricky but so I'm happy you think they were not too OOC! Draco's alive and has all his limbs and James is slowly emerging out of his teenage shell, so I hope you liked these two chapters as well!

Doomreaper: I'm so flattered you think my little fic is intelligent. I rarely coordinate ideas, this one has never had a plan so just sit down and try sometime and see if the writing doesn't flow anyway! I do think Draco was a bit misunderstood as a character but I confess I am guilty of making my own one nicer than the one we know from the books! So glad to hear you enjoy and thank you for your kind review.

Guest 2: Thrilled to hear you think I'm a genius (so far from the truth, really) and I hope you haven't died from the long wait. Keep reading and enjoying!

Blinck22: A relief to hear it was worth the wait, I do hope these two chapters are as well as it's been FOREVER. We shall see if the boys improve, I can't say I know myself yet…Thank you so much for taking the time to review, as always.

Hatebelow: Draco is a sweetheart, I agree. Thank you for reviewing, I'm so happy to see you're still around and still enjoying!

Nutmeg44: Yes, Ginny did take the defense a step too far when she blurted that out! I hope you've enjoyed these two and thank you so much for your review.

Roni2010: Thank you for your review, always makes my day! I'm hoping the last unfriendly Weasleys will see the light…

Guest 3: Thank you, I'm so pleased to hear you like it.

: I'm glad you caught on to my little Philosopher's Stone parallel, I thought it would be cute. Thank you for your kind review, I hope you enjoyed and stick around for more!

Pbk: I couldn't be happier that you think so! Thank you!

Lorento: Thank you, I'm ecstatic to hear I've taken you for an emotional ride, that's the best to hear. Also, welcome to the dark side of soft spots for great parenting skills, mehehe. Thank you so much for taking the time to review, I hope you enjoy the next chapters too!

Mattdombast: You're probably not here since you don't approve of my treatment of Harry but I just wanted to say I totally agree that canon Harry would not leave his child in the lurch. This is just my AU where I get to borrow the characters and play with them like a puppet master, mohahah!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Hi all! This one is a doozy, about twice the length of a normal chapter and it sets the stage for the big finale. I really hope you will all enjoy!

S.

Draco stood in his shower feeling elated but slightly dazed. She loved him. Actually loved him. He could count the people he had said those words to on one hand. His mum, Daphne and Score. And now her. Ginny Weasley, the girl he'd wanted for longer than he sometimes liked to remember. He could still hear her voice echo in his mind if he cast his mind back to it. The sun filing through the windows had painted warm patches on his skin, not unlike how her gaze on his him felt. The dust dancing in the air like oblivious observers, the smell of sun on wood and the slight tang of turpentine. And through it, her voice. "I love you, Draco." Like a piece just waiting to slide in place it had glided into his heart and he knew it was complete. She fit in the hole that had been left, linking into the piece that was Score, the one that was Blaise and Luna, the one that was James. She made a whole and she made him feel whole. Locked in place as if by chains of velvet he knew she would never leave that place inside him.

It amazed him that after all she knew of him, about his past and his mistakes she still found it in her heart to love him. Draco Malfoy, the former Death Eater. The boy who had represented everything she was not, everything she fought against. The utter darkness it had brought him had changed that and Score, the first light in his life had led him from it. Ginny had brightened that darkness, had chased the last shadows away. And damn it, it only showed Blaise had been right. It was time to bury the boy who had been. He was going to be insufferable if he ever found out. Draco stepped out of the shower and grinned at the misty reflection of himself. Not even the prospect of Blaise being insufferable was enough to put a damper on his mood.

Running the towel through his hair before wrapping it around his waist he padded out into the bedroom. Ginny was sprawled over the bed, quickly having reclaimed his space once he was out of the way. Lying almost diagonally with one leg curled and her arms spread wide he went to sit down next to her. Gently he ran his hand over the soft curls fanning over the pillow. He had no idea how many times he'd imagined doing it. The hair that was only a weapon in his arsenal of insults to her brothers was in her the most beautiful color he had ever seen. Not that is was just one color, it seemed to shift with the light, ranging from cinnamon, to gold to copper to the deep red of maple leaves in fall.

She mumbled something and turned, her arms slinging across his lap. She sighed contentedly.

"You smell good."

"I thought you were asleep."

"Not asleep enough not to notice." She peered up at him. "You look good to. The wet look works for you."

"Does it?"

"Yes, I think you should spend more time wrapped only in a towel, still dripping wet from your shower." Her tone inched into suggestive and he felt a hunger that had nothing to do with a wish for breakfast wake in him.

"Well, I only aim to please." He rolled over to trap her under him and the last sleep lifted from her gaze like clouds chased by wind. She laughed and he felt it reverberate through him. He had never known before. Never known it could be like this. With a smile tugging at his lips he bent to capture her mouth and her laugh ended with a sigh.

o.O.o

James shuffled into the kitchen, his eyes mostly still shut. He could vaguely make out the shape of Score sitting hunched over the kitchen island. The other boy was sitting, chin resting on his hand, staring into space. Glad to note he wasn't the only one not fond of mornings, James grunted his good morning. Score looked up in surprise and then nodded. Pleased he wouldn't have to make conversation James heaved himself up on the stool to sit on the other side of the kitchen island. Resting his head on the cool counter he dreamed of going upstairs and getting some more sleep. His pleasant dream was interrupted by the arrival of his mum and Draco. His mum seemed to be in an excellent mood, which he hadn't expected after yesterday at the Weasleys but was glad to see (or would be once he was awake).

"Morning, boys. How did you sleep?" She walked past and ran a hand over his hair. Too tired to stop her he just mumbled. Score managed a weak,

"Good, thank you."

"Are you excited about getting your school stuff? New robes, books, quills." James groaned.

"Don't remind me. I hate shopping."

"That's why I love to make you do it." His mum said with a smile over her shoulder as she reached into a cupboard for bowls.

"You can turn your smirk off, Score, we're going too."

"Aww, dad!"

"Aww, what? Would you rather squeeze into your robes from last year? Or maybe use the books from last year too, that'll work out well for your grades."

"Mum, it's still two weeks till school starts, can't we go later?"

"No, it'll be crowded with students soon, this way we'll escape the crowds and be done quicker." James decided to change tactics.

"But I'm thirteen now, I can go by myself."

"And deprive me of torturing you with shopping? I don't think so. Now, I forgot to charge the automatic breakfast maker last night so you'll just have to help me the old fashioned way."

An hour and a half later James found himself in Madam Malkins, getting measured for school robes. His mum and Draco were over by the formal wear as dress robes were apparently required this year. From their shaking shoulders he sincerely hoped his mum wouldn't think it funny to send her son off with the most hideous ones she could find. With Madam Malkins muttering measurements to the little hovering parchment and quill, furiously scribbling in the air as she measured what seemed like every bone in his body he looked to see Score uncomfortably shifting as a needles pinned themselves to the hems and cuffs of his robes. Giggling at the face he was making Madam Malkins huffed.

"Hold still, boy." With a last flick of her measuring tape she struggled to stand up, her cheeks red. "I'll go find you some robes to get fitted. Now, what ties do you boys need?"

"Gryffindor." James replied just as Score said,

"Slytherin, please." Blinking in surprise the dress maker turned and walked away. They could distinctly hear her say under her breath,

"A Slytherin and a Gryffindor in the same family. Now I've really seen it all." Score and James smirked at each other, James feeling rather smug to be considered unique. Score glanced around to make sure they were alone and then said, out of the corner of his mouth,

"Are you okay, by the way? I mean, about yesterday?" Embarrassed, knowing there was no way Score could have missed him crying yesterday James shook his head.

"I'm fine." The other boy bit his lip before continuing.

"And did you and your dad…talk?" James sighed.

"Yeah. He…He said he would try harder to not make promises he can't keep. And he swears he really does want to spend time with me. He says he's a bit scared of it because every time we meet he realizes how much older I've gotten and how much he'd missed of it."

"Whoah." James nodded.

"So I guess…I'm not sure how much more I'll see him but it was good to…talk." He glanced at Score, hoping the other boy wouldn't think he was a crybaby.

"Maybe it's better? I mean, I know it sucks that he can't be with you but at least now you're not pretending anymore." James relaxed. No taunting or edging away, just Score still.

"Yeah, I think so." Madam Malkins came bustling back, the green and the scarlet tie in one hand and James' robes in the other.

"Now, stand still, I mean it."

o.O.o

The crowds at Flourish and Blotts were thinner than usual and sending James and Score to find their books for Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures and Charms, she and Draco took the rest of the list with them.

"I love this place," she sighed and Draco looked up at the dusty bookshelf in front of them.

"This spot in particular or..."

"This shop. I'm not a reader like Hermione-"

"No one is a reader like Grang...Weasl...her." Giggling at his struggle with her friend's name, Ginny shook her head.

"Still, I love the feeling of all these books. Everything you can learn, all the worlds you can escape to."

"You sound like Luna."

"I do?"

"Yes, she's a big reader. So's Blaise, though you can't tell from his vocabulary."

"Well, I've seen your study. And your living room. And your bedroom. You can't tell me you're not a big reader too." He slung an arm around her shoulders.

"I just can't hide anything from you." She elbowed him in the side.

"In any case, I love this shop. I always have."

"I like it here. For several reasons. For example, this is the place I first saw you."

"Here?"

"Yes. What happened after was...What my father did, it was..." He looked away.

"Not your fault." She reached for him. "I always knew that was all Lucius. It was much too smart a plan for you to come up with." Draco snorted, and sent her a sideways glance.

"I was complicit. And I'm sorry." He squeezed her hand.

"Thank you. So you really remember the first time you saw me?"

"Of course I do. You were trailing behind Potter, looking like he was the answer to every problem ever created. So I noticed. And I noticed you were cute and wondered if you were actually related to your brothers."

"You thought eleven year old me was cute?"

"To a twelve year old boy, very much so."

"I was skinny, my hair was out of control and I'm pretty sure I was wearing boys' clothes."

"Well, I was hormonal, maybe you're right." She punched him lightly in the arm and he laughed. Catching her hand he pressed a kiss to it. "I saw a slender girl with an elfin like face and hair like strands of fire. I would have had to be blind since birth not to notice. Or dead a week." He tugged at her hand and she let him press her close.

"That's more like it."

"What about this?" He bent down and kissed her and a sigh of pleasure worked its way from the soles of her feet to her head.

o.O.o

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Blaise's voice was amused as he interrupted Draco's daydreaming. Sitting behind his desk at the office he noticed after a quick glance that he'd forgotten the time. He had agreed to have dinner with Blaise after work and now it was a quarter past six. Blaise stood, still in his well-tailored suit, Italian shoes and silk tie from work, his briefcase in his hand. In concession to the time he had loosened the expensive tie, today the color of aged champagne.

"Sorry, I lost track of time." Draco stood, collecting the papers on his desk into piles, his sense of order not allowing him to simply leave it.

"I thought I'd swing by, find you buried under a mountain of work and laugh at you before leaving and having dinner at home instead. Or if I felt magnanimous I'd buy you a take-away and watch the game on the TV in your conference room. But here you are, staring into space, with a stupid grin on your face. Daydreaming, you of all people. So, what gives?" Shrugging, Draco stepped away from the desk.

"Stuff."

"So eloquent. I feel like I'm in your head. I'm guessing the Weasley gathering went all right then? I mean I see no maiming or horrible disfigurements, except the normal but I think that's just your face. But you look…happy. Did they all catch the flu simultaneously and you got out of it?"  
"No, we went. It was…eventful."

"Okay, enough with the bull, what happened that makes you so damn happy?" Taking a moment out of their usual cadence, Draco felt the wonder fill him again as he spoke the words.

"She loves me. Ginny loves me, she told me after…after the eventful dinner." If anyone knew the weight of those sacred words it would be Blaise. Both of them had been raised to believe loving someone and saying so was admitting defeat. That it was weak to care for anyone outside your family. Luna and Ginny represented everything they should never have even wished for that was now theirs to have and hold.

A smile broke out on his friend's face and he gave Draco's shoulder a squeeze.

"I knew it. But dammit, I lost the pool."

"The pool?"

"Neville, Ollie, Luna and I had a pool. Guessing when you'd both own up to the obvious. I had you down for saying it first, and two weeks from now."

"You bet on when Ginny and I would say I love you?"

"Of course we did. And Luna won. She's scary good, I sometimes wonder if she's maybe got a bit of Seer in her."

"I repeat, you bet on when Ginny and I would say I love you?"

"If you think about it, are you even a little surprised?"

"…No. Bastard." Draco ran a hand through his hair. "How much?"

"She took home four galleons. We bought two Pygmy Puffs for it. The girls named them Subpoena and Puff."

"Subpoena?"

"Reena's choice. She must've heard me say it and liked the sound of it. Sub for short." Walking out of the office, Draco shook his head.

"Wow."

"You can't be surprised about that. It's Reena, after all."

"No, I'm not surprised about the name she chose. I'm surprised she pays enough attention to what you say to remember the word subpoena."

"Ha ha. She happens to find my work fascinating."

"All I hear when you talk about work is that droning tone like the teacher in the Peanuts cartoon. In fact, that's what you sound like to me most of the time."

"That must be why your comebacks are so lame."

"Wooap woooap woooap," Draco imitated the cartoon teacher and Blaise grinned.

"So, what are we having for dinner?" Leaving the office building and stopping on the entrance steps, Draco suggested Indian.

"Oh sure, I'll just burn this two thousand pound suit after. I'll smell worse than all Hagrid's pets combined for a week."

"Fine, burgers?"

"Now, you're talking. Oh, and you're buying."  
"Why am I up?"  
"You cost me a galleon by not admitting you love Weasley at the right time."

o.O.o

Ginny had been really pleased with her idea of hosting the annual "Back to School" party at Draco's. He was more than happy to lend his house and his garden but he was less sure anyone would actually turn up. Though not exactly freezing the relationship he had with the Weasleys was still well below tepid. To ensure the party wouldn't be wasted he invited the Montrellis, Blaise and his family and Neville and Ollie. That would be enough to eat the food they'd planned and would probably be a much more enjoyable event for him. But Ginny was more optimistic, promising him the Weasleys were slowly adapting to him and were thawing (though at the pace of the last ice age ending). The way he saw it at least he'd be on his turf this time.

So after helping Ginny string little lights through the trees, carrying tables and crockery outside and putting up a marquee he was ready for bed. She wouldn't let him use magic, stating they were outside in the middle on London. His point about the high walls surrounding his garden found no favor. So blackmailing the boys to carry the lighter loads he surrendered himself to the idea of spending the day preparing for the party.

After sending his bed a longing look he showered and dressed, pulling on the grey sweater he knew Ginny liked and jeans. Deeming himself ready he meandered downstairs to find Maria in the kitchen.

"Maria, cosa stai già facendo qui? The party is not for another two hours." He leaned forward and kissed her offered cheek and she patted his arm. As always the scent of her made him feel at home. Flour, flowery perfume and laundry powder. Quite a different mix to his actual mother who had used to smell like cool cotton and her favoured orchid perfume.

"Caro, stai bene. Sono qui per aiutare."

"Con quello che stai aiutando?" Help? Help with what?

"Con la cottura!"

"The cooking? Maria, that's sweet of you but it's all done, ready to go."

"Ready? Per La Famiglia?" Draco felt himself pale slightly.

"La Famiglia? You're bringing the family?"

"Naturalmente. We all want to meet Ginny's family, we're are all excited."

"Right, of course. Well, thank you for coming to help. Ah…maybe start, you know where everything is? I'll be back in a second and me and the boys will help you."

"Perfetto. I like having handsome men helping me." She pushed her sleeves up and Draco went out to find Ginny. She was rolling a tablecloth over the round tables they'd conjured.

"Hi, you look good. I really do love that sweater." She straightened and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Is something the matter? You look a little dazed."

"I was just talking to Maria. She said The Family is coming." Ginny put her hands on her jean-clad hips while she looked around the garden, surveying the results of their labour.

"Mmm. Well, we knew that."

"I don't think you're hearing the capital letters here. La Famiglia. As in, all of them. The clan."

"Are they part of the Mafia or something? Terrible table manners? I'm not following here."

"No, of course not. My point is, it's a big clan. Maria is here to prepare food for them. Your family plus them…This is going to be one hell of a party. We're going to need more tables."

"Oh." Ginny looked around again. "Well, all right. The more the merrier right? Let's get started." She pushed up her sleeves as Maria just had and pulled out her wand. "I think this calls for a little emergency use of magic." Draco chuckled and followed suit.

Daphne had loved hosting parties. Elegant affairs, impeccably planned weeks in advance where everything had to be just right, from the guest list to the wine to the flower in his buttonhole. Nothing could deviate from the plan. A server had once dropped a glass and Daphne had considered the whole evening a failure and a mark on her formerly blemish free reputation in Society. If he had let her know thirty more people than planned for were to turn up she'd have had a fit. If she'd known it was the Montrellis she would have cancelled the party. And all Ginny did was roll up her sleeves and conjure more tables, happy to welcome them all. Catching her for a quick kiss he whispered,

"I love you." It seemed to get easier every time, the words seeming to always rest in his throat, ready to spring from his lips anytime. She would smile, or make him laugh or set his mind on fire with a long look and they'd be there, no longer tearing from him but flowing easily.

"I love you too. Now let's have a party."

o.O.o

Ginny thought they couldn't have asked for a better evening. The air was balmy and none of the planned heating spells were needed under the marquees. The night sky was clear and the scents of the garden mixed with the smell of the food spread out on the buffet. All the tables were filled and the sound of people talking and laughter buzzed in the air. Children were running around, peals of laughter and shrieks trailing around them. Music was humming underneath, soft and soothing.

Among the many dark and ginger heads he was easy to spot and excusing herself Ginny steered towards him. Reaching him, she smiled in greeting to Neville and Oliver who had just arrived. His hand seemed to find hers without thought and shifting it to rest around her waist she tuned into the conversation.

"…so that's why we're a bit late."

"Well, you're not going to be able to use that excuse again."  
"I swear I didn't make it up!"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, there was no specified time so just grab yourselves some food and drink and find a seat."

"Thanks, Dray. Hi, Ginny, you look nice tonight." Neville focused on her and she realised she was really happy to see him. It seemed every time they met she found it easier to reconcile the stumbling, round boy she had known with the handsome man in front of her and she realised she had missed him. He had been a fixture in her life for seven years and yet she had completely forgotten to stay in touch with him. Busy with her career, with Harry, with James. But now she had time to reconnect with friends again.

"Thanks, Neville. You do too. And you, Oliver. It's good to see you." Oliver grinned at her and handed over a bottle of wine.

"Cheers, Gin. I try, though I'm not a sharp dresser like this one," he elbowed Neville who rolled his eyes amusedly.

"Ollie believes anyone who doesn't dress in the dark by pulling out something at random from your wardrobe is a fashionista."

"I have places to be. No time to agonise about whether my shoes go with my outfit."

"Considering you have two pairs of shoes that has to be a rare worry for you."

"You bought me a new pair of shoes?" Oliver's eyes warmed.

"Well, yes. It's ridiculous all you have are those worn out sneakers that you could-" Neville was interrupted by Oliver pressing a kiss to his lips and Ginny saw a few of her brothers' eyes widen behind them. Narrowing her eyes at them they quickly turned back to what they were doing. She chuckled at the slightly dazed look on Neville's face when his boyfriend pulled back. Catching his breath again he continued.

"Besides, how can you not notice I bought you new shoes when they're on your feet?" Oliver looked down.

"Oh. So they are. They're brown."

"They're Italian premium leather loafers."

"Did I hear you talk about Italian loafers?" Blaise appeared behind them and Draco groaned.

"If you're going to talk about shoes I'm going."

"No one's stopping you. Walk those gorgeous wingtips I chose for you out of here. I bet you don't even know what they are."

"Sure I do. They're expensive." Giggling, Ginny let Draco pull her along. "Enjoying the party so far?"

"I am. No catastrophes as of yet, no fistfights and no spells fired."

"Just wail until Blaise and Neville get deeper into their discussion about when brown shoes are appropriate."

"They're really into their shoes, aren't they?"

"I know. It's a disease. I'm funding a project to find the cure. On another note, can I tell you again how great you look tonight?" Ginny smiled and smoothed the floating fabric of the green dress she was wearing.

"Feel free to repeat it as many times as you like."

"I will. You look amazing." Leaning close, Ginny replied,

"Keep it up and you will find me wearing nothing but your sweater later. You know how I like it." He stopped in his tracks and Ginny laughed again.

"I find myself wishing this party to be over all of a sudden." Ginny too his hand and pulled him towards the marquees.

"Oh, it'll be a while yet. But I'll make it worth the wait."

o.O.o

James stopped in his tracks where he was following Score to join the group of kids again. They'd been refilling the drinks table under the watchful eye of Maria Montrelli and were just on the way back to play. He cringed inwardly, not play, _hang out_. Then he spotted his dad through the throngs of people, standing at the edge of the garden. His heart did a strange manoeuvre, seeming to both swell and sink at the same time.

"Score." The other boy turned, followed James' gaze.

"Your dad's here?"

"Mum said she invited him but I didn't think he'd actually…turn up."

"Well, go talk to him." Score nudged him and James took a hesitant step forward. "Go on, he must've come for a reason."

"I'm not sure I wanna hear it."

"Potter, go over there and see what your dad has to say. I'll wait here." Trepidation slowing him, James walked over the grass towards his dad. When Harry spotted him he smiled, a tad shaky and James felt slightly better. If his dad was unsure as well that had to mean he had heard some of what they'd talked about at the dinner at his grandparents'.

"Hi, Jamie." He reached him and put his hands in his pockets.

"Dad."

"Big party. Who are all the Italians?"

"Draco's family."

"Really?" Harry blinked in surprise. "Right. Erm, James, do you have a second? To talk?"

"I guess." Finding one of the stone benches close to the Apparition spot where the garden was still dark and quiet they sat. Harry leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.

"Listen, I've been doing a lot of…thinking lately. I want you to know that there's nothing I would rather do than be with your mum and you but with the way things are I just…can't. The guilt would just kill me if I weren't around for the people who need me. Do you understand?" James frowned. It was the first time his father had ever talked to him like he was older than five but he wasn't sure he liked where it was going.

"I get that people need you. But mum and I needed you and… and…"

"I know. I see that now. I realise I've been…selfish. My life has to be the way it is, it was unfair to make your mother's and your life that way too. It was selfish of me to make it your burden too and expect you to understand unconditionally. It's…hard for me but I know it's better for you both to not live with me."

"Dad…" James didn't know what to say, it sounded like he was saying goodbye and he just couldn't bear if it was him yelling at his father that finally pushed him completely out of his life.

"I'll never get what your mother sees in _him_. But I trust her. And I trust you. If you say he's not who he was at school anymore then I…then I believe that. I don't want you to feel bad for liking him James, you didn't know him before and I can't expect you to understand how or why I feel the way I do about him. So, what I'm trying to say is, we can still be family, just…a different kind. I know I've promised you before but I'm going to try harder to see you when we agree to meet. I swear I will do better, Jamie." He felt his dad's hand on his shoulder and giving in to the child in him that wanted nothing more than be close to his dad, James hugged him. Harry hugged him back, hard.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I will do better. I lost your mother but I won't lose you. I hadn't realised how close to I was. I will do better." For the first time in a long time James actually believed it could change.

o.O.o

Ginny sank down on the seat next to where Luna was sitting, baby Xander in a baby seat next to her. Covered in a yellow fabric with horses on it the carrier was enchanted somehow so the horses on the handle galloped past before joining the others in still contemplation on the seat. The little boy had the dark hair and complexion of his father but his eyes were a magnetic blue following the horses movements. It was a startling combination Ginny was sure would turn female heads in about sixteen years.

"Hi, Luna."

"Ginny." Luna's voice was dreamy as she turned her gaze from the milling partygoers to her.

"I see most of your brothers came."

"All but Ron, Fred and George. But their wives and children are here so that's something. They won't be able to hold out against their wives forever. Well, at least not Ron."

"You're getting a worry wrinkle. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"No, not at all. It's nice to talk about it with someone who was at school but outside of the rivalry. I…I've always felt closest to Fred and George, I think they're taking it harder than the others about Draco. They're the ones I wish the most would accept him but I'm not sure they ever will." The two brothers who had played with her the most, taken her on some of their adventures like the brother who was closest to her in age never had.

"Give it time. Your brothers' will see how happy you are, they will realise who's to thank for it. And if they don't I'm sure their wives will be happy to beat the point into their heads." Chuckling, Ginny shook her head.

"You're probably right."

"I probably am," Luna smiled and feeling better about the spaces left for the three who weren't there, Ginny turned her attention to the baby. Luna's hand rested on the edge of the baby seat as she gently rocked it. "I'm trying to put Xander to sleep but he is finding this much too exciting. Blaise has already walked him around the garden three times – I think he was mainly showing him off though – and still no luck."

"Then can I hold him for a bit? It's been ages since I had a new niece or nephew so it's been a while since I held a baby."

"Of course. Maybe you'll have better luck." Luna gently scooped her son up and cradling him close, Ginny sighed.

"He really is gorgeous."

"That seems to be the consensus around here. Your mum's been over twice. Apparently all your brothers looked like frogs when they were babies." Ginny snorted.

"She's right. I've seen the pictures." She looked down into the wide-awake eyes of the baby. "But you, you're just the cutest, aren't you? I bet you're smart too, we just don't know it yet. Looks and brains, in one tiny package." The baby smiled and kicked his legs in excitement, grabbing for her hair.

"I think he likes you."

"Well, it's mutual. How are you holding up? Is he sleeping okay and eating as he should?"

"He's the picture of health. And compared to the twins he's a breeze. They used to sleep and eat in shifts so I don't think I slept more than a few hours a night for the first year. Xander usually goes to sleep when you put him down, eat when you feed him and spend the rest of his time charming everyone around him. So you could say he's very much like his easy-going father." Ginny laughed at the comparison and watched as Luna's gaze travelled until it fell on Blaise. The look that passed over her face made Ginny's heart clench. That had to be what unconditional love looked like up close. Shifting slightly she saw Blaise look up from where he was talking to one of the Montrelli cousins as if he could feel Luna's gaze. His features softened and she saw the look reflected back. Seeming to excuse himself he headed over.

"Ginny, while you're minding the little bag of mischief, could I just steal Luna away for a moment?"

"Sure, Xander and I will talk and people watch."

"Thanks. We won't be long, I just have to kiss my wife for a while and see if I can convince her to dance with me. Back in two ticks." Luna's lips twitched as she rose.

"I'll be right back, Ginny. I just have to kiss my husband for a while and then find him some water since he only wants to dance when he's tipsy."

"Tipsy? I should think not. I'm perfectly sober. If you wish the dance can be to walk in a straight line and I'll prove it to you."

"Mm-hmm. We'll line dance, just when we're back. Come on." Slipping away, Ginny smiled and shook her head.

"Your parents are crazy in love. Although I bet you can tell already. That's lucky for you. I know, I had it too." She looked over to where her parents were sitting, talking and laughing with Marco and Maria Montrelli. Though they were just sitting next to each other you could see they were joined, a team. The slight shift in their postures toward each other, the way their eyes would find the other's. "Just look at them. One day I'll have that too. I'll be old and grey and I won't care a bit cause I have someone who loves me and I love him back. And…you can keep a secret, can't you? I'm pretty sure your uncle is the one. I'll marry him, carry his children, be the mother of his son, grow old with him. It's that too much to ask? I know, it is a lot ,but I think it's just right. What do you think?" What he did think she didn't find out as the baby had fallen asleep in her arms, his breathing slow and even and long lashes fluttering against round cheeks as he dreamed.

o.O.o

"Hey, Malfoy." Draco turned to find the eldest Weasley brother behind him. Bill, he reminded himself, curse breaker, married to the French woman, Fleur. His dark red hair was gathered into a short ponytail and three vivid scars ran down the left side of his face. Draco knew where they came from. Greyback had been one of the worst of all the Dark Lord's followers, a vicious brute of a man. Considering the pain the Death Eater had caused him Draco was surprised Bill Weasley was not more hostile towards him. Perhaps maturity came with age in the Weasley family.

"Weasley."

"It's a nice place you've got. Fleur has been walking around inside sighing over things. Dominic too, but only over the TV."

"He's welcome to turn it on. There's few games in there as well if he wants to play."

"I believe you've just made his night. We live on the magic side so we can't get any games to work without magic interference. He takes any chance he can get to play at others' houses."

"Well, anytime."

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far, you'd never get rid of him. Anyway, I wanted to ask you for something, actually." He supposed this was where Gryffindors would go "Sure" but he had been raised differently and where he came from you always asked the price first.

"Go ahead." The man shifted and hooked his thumbs through the belt loops on his black jeans.

"I bought this book, see, to learn French. Thought I'd surprise Fleur, I know she misses speaking it so I thought I'd pick up a few sentences. But the two times I've opened that damn book since I bought it I can't for the life of me figure out how those letters make the sounds I'm used to hearing."

"French pronunciation is hard. The rules for it rarely vary though, so that's something," Draco replied warily.

"See Fleur and my kids tell me your French is next to perfect. So I was wondering if you would help me out, we can go grab a beer and you can explain what that stupid book is trying to say about French pronunciation?"

"Oh, I…" He caught a glimpse of Ginny's green dress through the crowd and wondered if this could be the first step she had been telling him was coming. And even if it weren't it sure was something. "Sure."

o.O.o

Still sitting at the table, though now without Xander who had been stolen away by Mrs Weasley, Ginny was joined by Neville. He sat and Ginny noted he was wearing a corduroy jacket today over a shirt and a v-neck jumper, still maintaining the professorial look even off hours it seemed.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Of course not, please do." She winced. "That sounded so…cordial." Neville smiled and what had been a dimple when he was younger, now more of a crease, deepened.

"It did, very polite."

"Sorry, I've been thinking I've been sorry to lose touch with you. I was just so focused on….things, you know and I wish I had spent a bit more time trying to keep my friends. It makes me feel a bit bad."

"Hey, that's not just your fault. I didn't exactly send you an owl everyday or floo round. I was…When I moved to the muggle side I felt really…free, for the first time in a long while. I didn't want to ever go back. I worked at a plant nursery, creating hybrids for them and I had my little place and quite quickly some good friends. I was going to stay muggle. I was pretty happy giving up magic for a chance to feel like I fit in. I didn't cut ties with anyone on purpose but having two different lives is hard. I didn't really stay in touch with most of my school friends either. So don't blame just yourself."

"Can you believe it's Draco Malfoy of all people who made us meet again?" Neville laughed and relaxed in his chair.

"I did find it hard to believe when he told me you were dating. Not because of him especially, but because of your past." Ginny looked out to see Draco talking to Bill in what looked like a fairly civil manner and her heart swelled a little. He was trying for her, doing his best despite her family's best attempt at excluding him.

"Oh, I only had to meet him once to know he had changed. I'm his Magic-Muggle Liaison and I turned up to find this," she gestured around the garden, "and then he opened the door and I completely lost my train of thought." Neville tilted his head and grinned.

"Understandable." Grinning back, Ginny continued,

"And then he politely invites me in, calling me Mrs. Potter, not a note of contempt in his voice. So I thought if he could be mature about it, so can I. Then he made me coffee and listened to my problems and gave me advice and I knew there was nothing left of the horrid git I knew at school."

"That's quicker than it took me to see it."

"How long did it take?"  
"Oh, months. The first time we ran into each other we had to have looked hilarious. He came to the nursery for plants for his garden and knowing he was "big business" the manager took him to see the hybrids I was making in the back. All innocently he then introduced us and we just stared. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what he was doing on the muggle side. Then he started the garden project. You wouldn't believe what an overgrown mess it was when he bought this house. And of course, I was chosen to work with him on it. Suffice to say it only took me a day of seeing him digging in the dirt himself, while looking after Score who had to be about one then to know he had changed. His wife checked into a hotel, claiming she couldn't bear to look at the shambles the garden was in and the noise disturbed her."

"You met her?"

"Met and met, Draco tried to cover for her but I know she didn't want to talk to a lowly gardener. It was possibly the contrast of the two that helped me see he really was different. So after the garden was done our friendship was pretty much cemented."

"It is a lovely garden."

"It is." A noise like the drawing of wooden blinds suddenly sounded and Ginny and Neville turned to see Blaise, wand still out in his hand, now standing on a polished dance floor. His other hand he held out for Luna who laughed and met him, easily fitting into his arms. "Looks like Zabini is a bit tipsy." From the open windows of the house the music grew louder. Deciding if her dad could live with the display of magic as Head of the Department, she could too, Ginny relaxed.

"He looks steady enough to me. Wow, they really know what they're doing, don't they?" Admiring the couple as they spun over the floor Neville replied,

"Oh, not drunk. He only wants to dance when he's had a drink. And the training you must've heard of yourself, the fancy privileged Slytherin upbringing dance lessons?"

"Oh, yes, I've had the pleasure of seeing the result in action myself." Neville put his beer down and stood, holding out his hand for her.

"Well, I'm no Slytherin but I have improved since we went to the Yule Ball. Want to give it a go?"

"I'd love to."

Neville hadn't lied, he was a very good dancer now. Enjoying herself Ginny noticed her parents were dancing, as was Maria and Marco, the latter cheek to cheek as they swayed. Bill and Fleur had joined in and it was probably Fleur's Veela grace that kept them from falling over considering Bill had two left feet.

"This is nice. You should have more parties."

"I agree. The house seems to be made for it. And I have quite a few friends to catch up with."

"Anytime, Weasley." Neville grinned and Ginny felt they really were finding their way back to being friends again.

"I think your boyfriend is dancing with a dark-haired beauty behind you." Turning them gracefully, Neville chuckled to see Oliver dancing with Lucy, her hands looking impossibly small in his as she stood on his feet. Dressed for the party in a polka dot dress, striped tights and glittery shoes, her dark hair adorned by a princess crown and a little plastic sword at her side. "You can really tell she's Luna's, can't you?"

"Yeah, they're pretty much the image of Blaise, both of them, but Lu us definitely more like Luna and Reena is more like her dad. I think she turned up in Blaise's court robes, shrunk to fit her. Though she matched it boldly with red mary janes, which Blaise has never had the guts to do and I told him he should go for it. It's a good look." Laughing loudly Ginny marveled at the family that let their children be their own people. "Hey, Score," Neville called over her shoulder. "Come here." Score appeared and he continued, "Take over here, will you? I have to go tear my man from that temptress before I lose him forever." Winking at Ginny he passed her hand to Score and headed over to his boyfriend.

"Oh, you don't have to-" Scorpius put a hand on her waist and though he only reached to her sternum he easily found the beat and surprised, she followed.

"It's all right. My dad says leaving a lady on the dance floor is an etiquette faux pas." Ginny snorted.

"Etiquette faux pas. He would say that. Not that it isn't nice." His shoulder was narrow and a bit bony under her hand, his hand still smaller than hers and a surprising wave of tenderness welled inside her. He was just the cutest, the little boy on the verge of being a man who thought his father's word was law, and a law he wanted to follow.

"He is very into his manners. He says it's the most basic way of showing someone respect."

"I suppose he's right about that. So have you been enjoying the party?" The grown up she had seen a glimpse of under the surface disappeared as he grinned.

"Yeah. There's about twenty kids here, we've had our own party inside."

"Sounds fun. What did you break?"

"What?"

"What did you break? If all my nephews and nieces are in there, something's bound to be broken." Score bit his lip.

"A vase."

"Show me and I'll repair it before your dad sees." Gratefully, Score smiled up at her and she wanted to give him a hug. To distract herself she asked, "Is James inside?"

"Yeah, I only came out to grab a drink. He's in there trying to beat Dominic at any game."

"Still losing?"

"Oh yeah, but he's happy all the same. I think he and his dad sorted out some stuff when he was here." Surprised he looked down at her hand where she'd squeezed it in surprise.

"Harry's here?"

"Yes, earlier. I thought you knew."

"Well, I invited him but I…I never thought he'd actually show up."

"He came early and talked to James, then left."

"Oh, I…" She started to turn, her instincts telling her to make sure her baby was okay.

"Wait. He's fine, I think he'll tell you about it but maybe let him have some time first? I think he's processing it all."

"Processing?"

"It's a lot to talk about, maybe just wait until after the party?" Ginny relaxed again,

"Of course, you're right. I'll ask him later." And she would call Harry too. Make sure he hadn't made anything worse. "So, are you excited to back to school?" Score grimaced and she realized from what Draco had told her that was probably a stupid question.

"Not, really. I like some of the classes but I'd rather have summer holidays all the time."

"Me too." He giggled and Ginny joined him.

"Midget, mind if I cut in?" Draco was suddenly behind Score and he stepped away.

"Go ahead. I have to go in and take Dominic down a few pegs."

"Thanks for the dance, Score."

"No problem." He ran up towards the house and Ginny found herself slipping into Draco's arms. Sighing in content she laid her head on his shoulder, letting just the feel of him guide her steps.

"Hi." She said, enjoying the feel of the cashmere sweater against her cheek, of the warm skin under it.

"Hi yourself."

"I missed you."

"I'm right here now." Looking out over the dance floor again she saw Neville and Oliver dancing now, Reena and Lu next to them executing what looked like a parody of the foxtrot, stepping back and forth in one place. Her parents were back in their seats, along with Marco and Maria. Most seemed to have settled into groups and the sounds of conversations were floating in the night air.

"We sure know how to throw a party, don't we?"

"I'd call it a success."

"I can't believe the boys are going back to school tomorrow. I feel like this summer has rushed past. I'm going to miss them when they go."

"Yeah, me too. I wonder…I…Well, I worry. Score has made some friends this summer but I wonder once they're back at school, in different houses, surrounded by their peers if…If it'll last." Looking up at him she saw the beautiful grey of his eyes clouded in worry.

"It'll be all right. James won't forget about Score at school. They're friends now and like his dad, James is loyal to a fault to his friends."

"I hope you're right."

"Look at me, Draco." He turned his gaze to her and she squeezed his shoulder. "I know it will be fine. This year will be different for Score." Searching her eyes he seemed to find what he was looking for and she felt his shoulders relax under her hands.

"Yes, I think it will."

"And there is one thing I'm looking forward to about them leaving."

"What's that?"

"Privacy. Anywhere, anytime." His arm tightened around her waist.

"I like your thinking. I was contemplating this morning how I think you would look amazing spread naked over the kitchen table." She stumbled slightly as blood thundered in her ears. He steadied her easily, her chest pressed to his and her hand fisted in his shirt.

"I suddenly can't wait for them to leave."

o.O.o

The party had ended, the dishes were stacked in the kitchen, the tablecloths rolled up. Score had gone up to bed, staring at his alarm clock. The minutes seemed to drag by, each one convincing him further he wouldn't sleep tonight. He hadn't really been lying when he told Ginny he wasn't excited about school starting. He wasn't excited, in fact he dreaded it. Before he had never really had any friends and now that he'd tried it, going back to how it had been would be harder than ever. He could just picture it, walking down the hall, getting shoved and dropping his bag. Potter would probably just walk by, snickering with his cronies.

Sighing, Score turned over, curled up. Maybe it was unfair to assume he would be a dirtbag again once they were back but he didn't think James had really thought about what it would be like when school started again. He was one of the most popular kids at school, he'd likely lose a great deal of respect if people knew he was friends with Score. He wasn't entirely sure that was something James would be willing to give up for him.

"Hey, midget, you awake?" His dad's whisper trailed through the door.

"Yeah, I'm awake." The door opened, light from the hall spilling in, outlining his dad in the doorway. Then the mattress creaked as he sat down and as it always had his presence made Score feel better.

"Great party, huh?"

"It was cool."

"Did you beat the Weasley kid?"

"Yeah. And then some."

"Way to go." Draco shifted on the bed and Score knew he wanted to ask about school.

"I'm okay. School's school, I'm going and maybe it'll be different this year, maybe it won't."

"You sound more mature about it than I am."

"Maybe I am more mature than you."

"Tsk, says the boy who barely reaches to the bottom shelf of the cupboard."

"At least I'm not finished growing. I'm going to get taller than you out of spite."

"Maybe you will. But you'll always be my midget all the same."

"Oh, geez."

"Just one more thing. When you write this year, don't make up any stuff, yeah? I want to know what's really going on with you, you don't have to pretend for me."

"I…okay."

"Okay?"

"Deal."

"Good. Well, I'll let you sleep, I hear it promotes growth. Get tall, midget, sleep well." With a hug his dad left again and Score turned over again. He felt better. He still had his dad, and always would. No matter how he imagined what this year was going to be like he wouldn't know until after tomorrow, there was no point in thinking about it now.

o.O.o

The morning after the party the usual rush for belongings, trunks and laundry ensued. It never failed to amaze Ginny that it took so long even though they had packed almost everything the day before. Rushing back and forth they all finally managed to pile all the stuff and themselves into Draco's car.

"Is everyone sure they have everything now?"

"Yes," the others chorused.

"Good, then we're-Oh, damn, I left my phone. One sec." Draco jumped out and Score groaned. After a minute he was back and climbed in, turned the key in the ignition when Score realized he'd left his transfiguration book in the kitchen.

"How can you read school books before the term's even started?" James asked as Score got back in.

"I like them, I like learning."

"Freak," James said with a smile and looked out the window. They had gotten a whole block when James stopped them and made them turn back as he'd forgotten his lucky socks.

"You have lucky socks?"

"Yeah, I can't play a match without them." He waved the snitch adorned socks that had been drying on the line.

"Freak," Score said and grinned. Sending Draco a glance Ginny hoped he heard what she was hearing in the squabble – brotherly affection. He took one hand off the steering wheel to rest on her knee and she knew he heard it too.

"What's with the volume, grandma plays her radio louder than this." James directed at Draco who slanted a smile.

"I could never compete with your grandma, that lady parties too hard for me." Score and James giggled and with an apologetic glance at her he turned the music up. For once the headache inducing noise didn't disturb her, not when the three males in the car all enjoyed it together. James was tapping his foot to the beat, Score nodding along and Draco drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

So it was to the sound of pounding rock they reached King's Cross and piled all the boys' belongings on two trolleys. Following the two of them, hand in hand, Ginny enjoyed the sight of Score and James racing, their two dark heads bobbing through the crowd.

On the other side of the barrier the usual mayhem was reigning. Though occupied as they all were Ginny noted more than one pair of parents' eyes widening in surprise when they spotted whose hand she was holding. Nodding politely, feeling like laughing out loud, she smiled at Draco. They searched the train for an empty compartment and finding one near the end they loaded in the trunks and stepped out again. James suddenly spotted a friend and hurried off. Score stuffed his hands in his pockets and summoned a bleak grin.

"I guess this is it then. I'll see you in a few weeks." School regulations had been amended and students were now allowed to go home over certain weekends of the year. The first one was planned for the end of October.

"Don't forget to write."

"Yeah, I'll write, text, send smoke signals, morse code messages."

"You joke but I would welcome them all. Stay in touch, midget." Giving his son a hard hug Ginny couldn't help but look around for James. He was nowhere to be seen, probably caught up in catching up with friends he hadn't seen all summer.

"Bye, Score, I'll see you in a few weeks," Ginny said and gave in to the need and hugged the boy close. Surprised at first he then hugged her back and she blinked quickly so he wouldn't see her eyes misting over. Then he boarded the train and with Draco's arm around her shoulders she waved, seeing his little pale face disappear from view. As the train picked up speed James suddenly leaned out a window, yelling,

"Bye, mum, bye Draco, I'll see you in October! Don't forget to send me Froot Loops!" Standing in the same spot a while after the train had disappeared from view, Ginny spoke.

"He'll find him. He'll go and find him, I know it."

"Yeah. Let's go home and drown our sorrows, shall we?"

"Let's."

o.O.o

The train was speeding past fields and rows of hedges, the sun beating down from a blue sky. Alone in his compartment, Score sighed and leaned his elbows on the table in front of him. It wasn't as if he was surprised Potter would shoot off first chance he got and forget all about him. School was different. He was sure all the Weasleys he'd hung out with during the summer would suffer the same mysterious memory loss. He pulled out the transfiguration book and opened it to the page he'd left off.

He'd only managed two pages on partial transfiguration when the door opened and he was interrupted by Tom Dougherty, a large Gryffindor boy in his year.

"Malfoy. You're in the wrong compartment. This is mine."

"I don't think it is since it was empty when I chose it."

"It's mine cause I say it is, twerp. Now get lost before I make you wish you hadn't boarded the train." Knowing he'd get expelled if he used his wand outside of school and that the other boy was much larger, Score closed the book and stood.

"That's right, loser, go sit in the back carriage with the other rejects." Suddenly James pushed by the larger boy, turning to face him, not backing an inch though the other boy was at least a head taller and he had to crane his neck to talk to him.

"Shove off, Dougherty, he was here first. Go sit in the carriage your parents picked for you like a nice boy." Stunned speechless, Score could only gape behind James.

"What's up with you, Potter? You've never been a fan of the Death Eater before."

"Shut up, you don't even know him, or his dad! My dad says Score's dad wasn't a Death Eater, not really, and I think he knows more about it than you." The large boy seemed to recover from his surprise and menacingly he leaned forward.

"Listen, Potter, just cause your dad's famous doesn't mean you rule this house. If I want to take a compartment from a Slytherin, then I will."

"Then go find another Slytherin cause Score and I are staying here." Dougherty's face turned red and he balled his fists so his knuckles cracked.

"You think you can stop me? You and who, your Slytherin boyfriend?" James pushed him and surprised he would try the larger boy stumbled backwards, out into the corridor.

"He's not my boyfriend and if he were, it would be none of your damned business. Now shove off before I make you go." Reaching for James' collar with his big hands, another voice interrupted them.

"Didn't you hear my cousin tell you to get lost?" Dominic stood in the corridor, already in his school robes and Ravenclaw tie. Rose, Hugo and the other Weasley cousins were gathered behind him.

"Yeah, shove off, Tom," little second year Rose piped in. Weighing his chances, Dougherty let go of James who sank down from standing on his toes.

"I'll remember this, I'll get you all for it."

"I don't believe you will." Teddy was suddenly standing on the other side of the boy. His Prefect badge was gleaming on his robes and he smiled coldly. "Anything happens to my friends, I'll come look for you and I'll write you up so bad you'll spend the next three years of school in detention. Now, I think you were about to leave." Dougherty slunk off, a last dark look over his shoulder and Teddy changed in a heartbeat to his normal self. Score saw Victoire send him an admiring glance before she tossed her hair and followed her cousins into the compartment. All piled in it got really crowded and loud. Score, still stunned out of his speech met James' eyes. They were full of mirth.

"Did you see his face when Dominic showed up with all of them? And then when Teddy said he'd write him up? Classic."

"I…Why?"

"Why what?"  
"Why did you stand up to him? He's in your house, he's bigger than you, you're both on the Quidditch team."

"He was an ass to one of my friends. He can go jump off the train for all I care."

"You'll have to see him everyday."

"He was always a pain to look at. Now at least I have an excuse to wince."

"Potter, if you stay friends with me you'll probably lose your other ones. I…It's okay if you want to pretend we're not friends, I'd get it."

"Do I look friendless to you?" James gestured to the full compartment. "Do you, for that matter?"

"No, but we're not even at school yet and you've already made an enemy of one of your house mates."

"But I made a friend in another house. Seems a fair deal to me. Listen, Score, we're friends, you don't just turn that off and on or you're a crap friend. I'm not crap – at anything." Score snorted.

"Sure you are. Your jokes are lame."

"They are not."

"They're lamer than a dead horse."

"Do you know what else is lamer than a dead horse? You, if you don't take it back." Grinning at each other the train passed a glittering lake and Score thought he could finally let himself believe this year would be different.

A/N: Thanks too who have read, followed and favorited and special thanks and hugs to my lovely reviewers, rest assured you're to thank for any updates that happen!

Guest1: I liked James standing up for Draco too, showing it goes both ways. I'm pleased to her you liked it and thanks for your review.

Abatemarca: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the contrast of Harry and Draco as dads in the confrontation. Hopefully Harry will do better now and pay more attention to James. And if he can't I'm sure Draco will be there! So happy you liked it and I hope you keep enjoying.

Nutmeg44: I thought I'd sneak in a little guys moment in the middle of all the drama, I'm glad to hear you liked the gym scene. James and Draco are getting there and there's a bit more to come in that department too. I love hearing from you, as always!

Pizziagirl86: Thank you!

Roni2010: Yes, I think a mature Draco would probably, as you say, be better at keeping his temper in check – but once Harry went for Ginny he would be toast! I agree that Harry is finally hearing what Ginny and James are saying so hopefully it will get better for them, and for him. Thank you for taking the time to review!

Miss Mello: Wow, I'm amazed to inspire and allnighter, I've never been so proud! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and thank you so much for your encouragement!

Guest2: Smut, you say – it has crossed my mind but am sort of enjoying dancing at the edge of tension in this one ;)

Johan Kira Expelliarmus: Thank you, I'm happy to hear you liked the three-way drama between Harry, James and Draco. It was tense indeed!

Guest3: Hi, I think your comment didn't post – if you know you left a review and see no answer, check if it's you, post again and I'll thank you properly :)

Blinck22: I recognize that, I'm much like a kid at Christmas when I see I've gotten a review! Thank you for taking the time to review and I'm so pleased to hear you liked it. I think Harry has some hard truths to face and he's started to so things will maybe get better…

Pottermum: I kind of feel bad for him too. He's so clearly torn and I don't think he will ever have an easy time! Hopefully things will get better though. Thank you for reading and reviewing and I hope you have continued to enjoy!

Krystal1989: Indeed, go James! Thank you for your encouragement and I hope you are liking where it's going!

Charlotte Bird: Yay for James! I did like the galleon idea, it just popped into my head at work and seemed like something James would appreciate more than words. Slowly but surely Harry is beginning to see the error of his ways, let's hope it sticks! Thank you for taking the time to review!

Hatebelow: Five? That's amazing, I read it twice to edit so you have me beat! I really like finding the dynamic in each chapter and change it slightly, we are moving in the right direction! Hopefully you see the seeds I've planted for family feels growing in this chapter. Thank you for reviewing and I hope you keep enjoying!

ImaHPFan: Welcome to party! I hope you will keep enjoying and thank you for your kind review!

muddier waters: First of all, I really like your username XD Secondly, thank you for taking the time to review almost every single chapter, you've encouraged me loads as I was writing this long (felt endless) chapter. I hope you'll like it too.

I'll see you all soon,

S.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Here we are, the last chapter, I can't believe it. What started as a random start grew into the longest thing I have ever written and I have really enjoyed the journey. To everyone who has read, favorited and reviewed, a massive thank you – it means the world to me that you take the time. I have some more D/G left in me so if you want to stay tuned, add me on author alert.

Now I'm sure you don't want to listen to me ramble anymore so here you go, the final installment.

Three Months Later

"Do you think he'll like it?" Ginny asked and Draco looked up from where he was attempting to put together an IKEA dresser meant to be so easy to put together a child could do it. He'd like to see that child, the flatpack prodigy.

"I'm sure he will." They were in the guest bedroom, now painted a blue pulling towards grey. Ginny was dressed in a pair of worn jeans and one of his sweatshirts, a stain of the paint on her cheek. She looked adorable. And there was something sexy about the tool belt slung around her shapely hips as well.

Their intention was to make the guestroom into James' own but the boys were arriving back tomorrow and they were short on time. Ginny still had her little house but was spending just enough time there to pick up the mail and water the plants. Draco couldn't be happier about sharing his house with her for as long as she wished. So talking about it the other day she had decided it was time to make it official, to herself, to her family and her son. They were moving in to his house. Their house. He had started to feel a thrill at the silliest things, like mail arriving addressed to her at the house. Seeing her little pots and bottles in the bathroom cabinet (which had been replaced with a larger one pretty quickly), her coats in the hall and her keys in the bowl on the hall table. The signs of a woman living there were the return of something familiar but the real joy came from knowing it was her things. He had had to tell himself he was being ridiculous when he smiled at the semi-skimmed milk in the fridge that she preferred.

Routine had been easily found, a rhythm that suited them like they'd always known it. He woke up first, showered and dressed before making coffee. The only way he could budge her from the bed was to put it where she could smell it but not reach it without getting out of bed. She'd grumble and get up, give him a sleepy kiss before her shower. Slightly brighter she'd join him at the breakfast table, hair still damp and smelling better than anything he'd ever known.

Work suddenly had to start doing without him putting in late nights, he was too eager to get back home now to stay for anything but emergencies. If she had beat him home he'd get there to find her in the kitchen, usually with bare feet tired of heels and tapping them in time to the music as she cooked. She'd turn and smile at him and he wondered how he had ever considered this house a real home before. Seeing her smile at him he knew he was home now. Joining her they'd finish the cooking, talking about their days, their sons, their thoughts. Conversation never seemed to run dry with her. Evenings were spent doing anything they wished and then he got to fall asleep with her in his arms and life seemed pretty perfect.

Letters arriving from Score contained stories Draco was sure weren't made up and though he wouldn't win any popularity contests any time soon he seemed to have friends now. In his replies he was sure his son could read equal happiness and everything was just beginning to feel…right.

"Are you sure that piece goes there? It doesn't look much like the picture…" Ginny interrupted his thoughts and he looked down to see he'd just automatically gone ahead and stuck pieces where they looked like they fit and now something that had to be incredibly loosely described as an interpretative dresser stood in front of him.

"Ah. Well, damn." She laughed and returned to the painting, almost done with the third wall now.

"Help has arrived, and man it looks like you need it." Draco heard Blaise and looked up to see him and Luna, Oliver and Neville behind them.

"Thank Merlin. Does anyone speak Swedish cartoon images?"

"I know something better," Blaise answered and took his wand out, sending a quick "Reparo" at the dresser. Wondrously it undid itself and floated into place, suddenly the dresser from the picture.

"How does that work? It wasn't even broken."  
"It was in pieces, that seems broken to me."

o.O.o

Ginny stood in the kitchen, the sandwiches that someone had conjured quickly disappearing from the plate, washed down with pumpkin juice. The three Zabini-Lovegood children were playing on the floor of the room. Playing meaning Reena and Lu putting on a play with their stuffed animals for Xander. The story was somewhat disjointed as Reena's plot was about the destruction of a planet called ReeLu in less than an hour, the only one able to save it the bold Captain Snufflefluff. Meanwhile a subplot of heart wrenching romance between the pilot of the spaceship, Patrick Turtle and his co-pilot, Kitty was unfurling between Lu's protagonists. Xander didn't seem to mind the different plots and followed both with wide eyes.

At the table Luna and Neville were talking about some rare plant and the supposed qualities of it. At the counter Draco and Blaise were teasing Oliver about his Quidditch Quarterly cover. Ginny sighed happily. She had never lacked for help when she asked for it, her brothers would be there in a heartbeat if she asked but with the tension still in the air between some of them she didn't think it would be wise to let them close to any of Draco's breakables. But though they couldn't be here, her friends could. It made her think of something James had talked about just before he went to school. He'd said you had the family you were born with and the one you made for yourself and standing around in her kitchen was the family she'd made. Hugging herself both at the thought that this kitchen was hers and that she had an extra little family she met Draco's eyes. He was smiling about something Ollie had said and it still sparkled in the silvery grey depths when he met her gaze. Her heart stuttered and she felt a vague blush spread on her cheeks. Merlin, she hoped that would never change for as long as she lived. The months the boys had been at school had been, though she missed them both terribly, fantastic in other ways. She supposed they would have to go back to being more…discreet from tomorrow when they were home over the Christmas holidays.

It would be great, she couldn't wait to have them home again. She hoped the transition wouldn't be too hard on James. The little house was still theirs as she'd wanted to let him say goodbye to it (though that may just be her wish, really). It had just been a stop on the road kind of house but it had been where they had become their own little family. Now that was going to change and two little families were becoming one. Her sigh was slightly less content as she wondered how her son would take it.

o.O.o

Score had thought his dad and him were fairly good at celebrating Christmas. They had a tree and they ate turkey on the 25th and exchanged a present. When he'd been younger it had been more than one but nowadays he usually asked for one thing. But since Ginny and James were now in the house too they were incorporating their traditions too and there were a lot. Like a general Ginny was directing them with decorations, shopping bags with enough food to feed an army and cleaning instructions. Rolling his eyes at him behind his mother's back James grumpily followed her directions but Score didn't mind. It was nice to get the house ready, feel the anticipation building for the day. And cooking all the food was fun. Most would have to be done on the day but Ginny insisted on all homemade and so all four of them puttered around the kitchen, James mainly getting teased for his misshapen cookies.

About a month ago at school they had both been surprised to realize they were best friends. It had sort of crept up on them. James had lost a few friends in his house because of his newfound friendship with a Slytherin but he had just shrugged and said they were idiots anyway. Score could hardly believe it. The kids in his house had hardly gotten better but he didn't mind as much anymore now that he had some friends in other houses. The Weasleys, who could be found in all houses but Slytherin had welcomed him and from their approval some more housemates had followed. He wasn't one of the popular kids but he was certainly not friendless anymore. It made school more than bearable, it made it fun.

Back in his room after a day of cooking and decorating – he and James had hung miles of garlands it felt like – Score was smiling as the Gryffindor parted with the words,

"Night, weirdo." When there was a knock on the door he was sure it was him back again so he called,

"Come in, loser." It wasn't James but his dad and he grinned.

"Loser, huh? Is that any way to greet your one and only father?"

"Depends. Did you deserve it?" Draco snorted and sat on James' bed.

"I never do. I'm practically perfect in every way."

"That's not what Uncle Blaise says."

"Your uncle is blinder than a bat and stupider than two empty boxes so you don't have to heed his opinion. Your opinion however…" His dad's eyes grew serious again. He pulled a little box from his pocket and flicked it open to reveal a glittering ring. "What do you think?"

Score's heart beat painfully in his chest. Heavy thuds that rung in his ears. Everything was changing - again. The safe ground that was his dad in his life shifted and he drew a deep breath.

"I'm flattered but I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment." His dad's lips twitched.

"Funny. How about that kind of commitment from me to Ginny, are you ready for that?" He could say no. He could and his father wouldn't think twice about putting the box in a drawer until he was ready. But he couldn't do that to him. Not when he saw the wish in his dad's eyes, as starkly as if he'd painted it on his chest. So he summoned his smile.

"Go for it. If she'd say yes – that's a completely different matter."

"Tell me about it." He shut the box and put it back in his pocket, then got up and pulled Score close in a hug. "You're always first, Score. You'll always be first." His smile was easier to call on this time.

"I know. But you can have both. Me, and Ginny and James. You don't have to choose. You deserve both."

"Thanks, midget."

"I grew two inches since you saw me!" Draco hooked him under his arm, bent close.

"But you'll always be my midget all the same."

o.O.o

Draco squared his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair. The first visit of the evening had gone well, he'd seen his son take another step towards being a man in his wish for him to be happy and being happy for him. This one he was less sure about. But he knocked on what was now James' door and heard a muffled

"Come in," over the pounding rock. _Antagonism_, by Rhapsodic, he noted.

Inside, the room was a mess. He may have only been home for two days but the contents of his trunk was spread everywhere. Not surprised in the slightest Draco didn't even flinch to find that it looked like the trunk had exploded. James was sitting on the bed, his phone that wouldn't work at school in front of him, his scrawny frame dressed in slouchy jeans and a washed out t-shirt. His hair was sticking up and the recognition speared through him at the sight. It could've been a thirteen-year-old Harry Potter sitting on the bed. It was a strange sensation that when it was the father he saw he felt annoyed but when it was his son a wave of tenderness washed over him at the sight.

"Hey." James looked up, a grin on his narrow face.

"Hey. Did you see Morbid are releasing a new album? That's going to be awesome! Their last one was classic."

"Really? That will be awesome. The base line in _Tornado_ was the best I've heard in years." Nodding enthusiastically James put his phone aside.

"I know, right? I hope they can make something that'll be like that but maybe a bit more Crash or even Left-handed." It would have been easy to get into a discussion about rock bands and forget why he was here. But he shouldn't.

"That'd be great. But I actually came in to ask you something."

"Yeah? If it's what I want for Christmas you can put the new Nimbus on top of the list." Draco snorted as James grinned.

"Right. No, it's more about what I got your mum for Christmas." He pulled the box from his pocket again, the narrow goblin wrought silver band glinting in the light. "I would like to give her this. But I would like to ask for your permission first." James' eyes were trained on the ring, widened in surprise. "You're the man of the house and I would like your blessing. I promise I will take care of her, I'll love her and treasure her, every day." He crouched to get on eye level with James. "And if you'd let me, I'd like to be your family. I know you have a dad and I respect that. But if you ever need a spare, then I would be honored if you'd let that be me." James was silent for a while, shifting his gaze from the ring to stare at the wall. Waiting patiently he heard the song end and silence enveloped them. After a few minutes he heard a small sigh from the teenager and he finally looked back at Draco.

"You can't ever forget her birthday. You have to bring her flowers sometimes and you can't think work is more important than her." Seriously, Draco nodded.

"That's all fair. I promise." James' eyes narrowed.

"When's her birthday?"

"The 11th of August. This year I took her to a Quidditch match and dinner. Next year I was thinking of getting her a holiday somewhere and get two rooms so you tadpoles can entertain each other." James seemed to consider this.

"When you promise her something you have to keep it. You have to call when you're late and if she's sad you have to be nice to her." Swallowing the urge to strangle Potter for teaching his son these weren't normal conditions of a marriage he nodded again.

"I swear. And I promise the same to you, James."

"To me?"

"Of course I do. I don't think you want flowers but I'll keep any promise I make to you, I'll cheer you up when you're sad and I'll remember your birthday. It's the 12th of February and I got you tickets to the RadioActivity concert in London." James' head snapped up.

"You got me my present already?"

"Well, those tickets sold out in a day. You have to be on the ball if you want to-" James latched on to him in a hug and surprised, Draco hugged him back. Quickly the teenager let go again, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Ah…I…" He cleared his throat. "I guess it's okay if you want to marry my mum."

"Thank you, James."

"Yeah." He picked up his phone again and Draco got up to leave. When he was about to close the door James spoke again. "I guess it doesn't ever hurt to have a spare." For a moment he didn't understand but then his own words floated back into his mind and he felt happiness bubble under his skin.

"Good night, Jamie."

o.O.o

James hunched over the table and frowned. This was so not fun. His mum had said they'd been invited to dinner at Draco's family's place. He remembered the many Italians that had showed up to the party before he went back to school, so he'd agreed. He'd even thought it was pretty cool, his mum rarely took him out to eat (as she wouldn't use the money his dad sent every month, conscientiously depositing them at Gringott's for when he turned seventeen) so it would be a treat.

To start with it had been cool, just the four of them had eaten together at a table and they had had a good time. The food was pretty sweet and he'd eaten enough to make his trousers uncomfortably tight. But then Score had been pulled away by a boy their age or slightly younger who wanted him to help with something upstairs, a level or a jump, or whatever. It had been in Italian so when Score had been off he had been left with his mum and Draco. Soon after Draco was pulled into the kitchen to help cook something and his mum got involved in a conversation at another table full of women who kept laughing loudly.

So he was sitting by himself, wanting nothing more than go home. He didn't like it. This family might be new but it was looking like he'd be the one left behind and forgotten in this one too. This whole place was stupid, it smelled of garlic and it was noisy and warm and everyone had someone to talk to but him. He should just get up and leave, catch a train home. See how they liked that. He felt a sweet longing at the thought of his mother looking for him in a frenzied panic, her eyes frightened as she saw a life without him stretching in front of her. That would teach her. Then she'd find him and hug him close and whisper she'd never leave again. And maybe Draco would pull him close to, promise to never forget him again…Shaking his head at the childish fantasy he was still annoyed how tempting it seemed.

"James!" He looked up from staring at a whorl in the wooden table when he heard his name called. Looking into the kitchen he saw Draco motion for him to come in and with careful steps he maneuvered out of the booth and into the kitchen. He'd never been in a restaurant kitchen before. All the surfaces were a shiny chrome and the smells made his mouth water though he had never been more full in his life. Febrile activity surrounded him as four people chopped, stirred and fried things. In an oasis of calm in the middle of it stood Draco with the old man that had been introduced to him as Marco.

"James, maybe you can help us out. Marco here is looking for an unbiased judge and _I_ apparently won't do."

"You're trying to spare my feelings."  
"No, I told you the old one is better."  
"Because the new one is a disaster. A train wreck."  
"I didn't say that. Now, James, would you please taste both and tell us your honest opinion?" He continued, to Marco, "You'll never get blunter truth. Right, James?" Feeling strangely proud to be relied on for an opinion he accepted the spoon and tried a mouthful of what they were referring to as "the old one". It was amazing, a simple taste that grew on your tongue and warmed you from the inside. Though he was full to bursting he could have eaten the sauce - on anything. Then he tried the new one and though similar it didn't warm him or make him want to lick it off the floor should any of it spill.

"So, Jamie, which one is it?" Marco's pronunciation of the nickname was strange but James found he didn't mind.

"The old one is better." Marco nodded.

"Davvero. But why, young man? Can you tell me that?" Frowning to pick the right words to convey it, James tried to explain.

"The new one is…flatter, it doesn't grow on your tongue or warm your insides. It's like eating the olive oil stuff my mum buys instead of butter to not get fat." Draco let out a loud laugh and slung an arm around James shoulders, bringing him close.

"I told you he was smart." Feeling his heart fill with a bright, blinding pride at the tone of Draco's voice, James tried to squash it. Draco wasn't his dad. He had agreed he could be a spare but he was someone else's dad and James had his own father. But he didn't know the last time he'd heard that kind of pride in his dad's voice when he spoke about him.

"Indeed," Marco nodded sagely. "Well, give me un momento and I'll try again." He dashed off, rummaging on shelves and muttering in Italian.

"You've inspired him now. He hasn't had fresh taste buds to try this on in years. Ever since he discovered "The Sauce", as it's referred to in this house, by accident he's been trying to best it by skill alone. So far it's not going too well. But he enjoys it. Now he's going to add some stuff to the new one, using what you said and then he'll make you taste it again. In fact, I will have to wrench you from his grasp bodily to ever get him to let you leave again."

"I don't mind", James mumbled. No one had ever set any real store by his opinion before and it was a heady feeling.

"Well, we'll be in here a while. Might as well make ourselves useful. Have you ever cut tomatoes with a seriously sharp knife?"

"No?"

"You're missing out. I'll show you how, and if you don't listen close and lose a finger I'm telling your mum you were running around with it, waving it in the air like a crazy person." James nodded. Trusting his opinion, trusting him with seriously sharp tools. He stood up straighter. Draco may not be his real dad but he could see James wasn't a baby anymore. They could be friends, there was nothing wrong with him liking the older man. He glanced sideways as Draco set a cutting board and a knife that did look lethal in front of him. He wasn't sure friendship was what he felt when Draco's large hand rested on his shoulder and he nodded approvingly when James slowly cut the tomato with three deep cuts. It fell open almost like a flower and knowing he reminded of nothing so much as a puppy looking for praise, he was still pleased when the man's eyes warmed in approval.

"That's it. Well done, just keep going like that." Draco moved around to the other side of the counter and picked up his own cutting board and knife. Then James' eyes widened as the food seemed to fall into neat pieces almost as if by magic, Draco's cuts quicker than he could follow. He wanted to be able to do it like that. It looked really cool. And he thought Draco would maybe sling an arm around his shoulders again and tell him he was doing really well if he could learn. Look at him like what he did had mattered. That it made him proud. Suddenly he knew he wanted more than anything in the world to make Draco proud of him. To look at him like he looked at Score.

"There you go, perfect." Draco said as he surveyed the results on James' cutting board. Meeting his eyes James hadn't thought he'd get his wish so soon. Feeling like a balloon was swelling inside him and embarrassed a tear was traitorously creeping into his eye he looked down.

"Thanks."

o.O.o

"Ah, look at that. Three _generationes_ together." Ginny turned to look to see what Maria was referring to and her heart softened. Marco, Draco, Score and James were all standing in front of the stove and Marco's head was bobbing excitedly as James was talking. Then they all laughed and Draco put his arms around the two boys' shoulders as they leaned forward to inspect something in the pot. Draco's hand absently ruffled James hair and when he looked up she caught the look in his eyes. He looked intently proud and Ginny felt all the air leave her lungs. Emotions fluttered and rose in her like feathers caught by the wind, light and dancing. Then they fell, like bright little stars all around her. Her family. This was her family. It was always going to be her family. Feeling little tears gather at the corners of her eyes she looked away and cleared her throat.

"Oh, cara, I understand completely." Maria said and laid a hand on her chest. "Sometimes you look at the, your familigia and you just…" She sighed and though she couldn't convey it in words, Ginny knew exactly what she meant.

When they arrived home Score and James set off upstairs, James to his new room and Score to his. They were laughing about something as Score told him of the level he had to clear for the Montrelli boy. Draco steered into the kitchen, still wearing his coat and tossing his keys on the table before pressing the start button on the kettle. Turning towards her he smiled and rubbed his hands together to warm them and she knew she couldn't wait for the right moment or the right setting. She wanted this with her whole being so the words just tumbled out of her.

"Draco, will you marry me?" He stopped mid-rub and just stared at her. Fidgeting with her purse strap, Ginny set it down and drew a calming breath.

"I know it's not been that long, we can wait, but I…I just want you to know I want this, Draco. I want you. I want to be with you every day for the rest of my life. I want to have a family with you. Be a family with you. I want you to be James' father and I want to be Score's mum - if he'll have me. I want to make a baby with you, I want to carry your child under my heart, and I- I just love you, Draco, and I know I will forever." She took a step forward as he remained silent, staring widely at her.

"Don't you want to?" Her voice was small.

"You wench." Shocked, she could only splutter. He took a step forward. "You beat me to it." He reached into his pocket and brought out a small velvet box. Flicking it open Ginny lost her breath at the sight of the beautiful ring inside.

"I will marry you, Ginevra Weasley, and I will be the proudest man that ever lived to be your husband. I will be your family and I will give you mine. I will love and cherish the sons we have, and the children we'll make and I will never go a day without trying to make you as happy as you make me."

Epilogue

James Sirius Potter sighed in content as he opened the door. Stepping in he knew he was home. The familiar smells of cooking, of his mother's perfume and the vague, fresh note the cleaning spells left behind greeted him and as always they brought him back in time. This house hadn't always been his home but it had been the one that would always be home in his heart. It was the house where he had found a family and his place in it. Shrugging off his coat and bending slightly to check he wasn't too grimy from the long travel, both through Apparition points and Floos since early in the day he met his eyes in the reflection of the hall mirror. They were still the deep honey brown passed down from his mum, the only visible sign of her in his genes. The rest was very similar to his father, the narrow face, the lean build and the sinewy muscle. If he skimped on gym days he quickly grew gaunt and vain enough to avoid that he was currently quite pleased to have some visible muscles.

Running a hand through his hair, it was getting a bit too long and would brush the collar oh his shirt – if he ever wore one. He'd have to get that sorted before Christmas Day or grandma would tut at him. If he was really unlucky she'd put a pot over his head and cut around the bottom edge. He didn't think his image could survive that. Entering the living room he heard Christmas music – it sounded like Draco had won the choosing game and a bluesy version of White Christmas was playing. His mum was sitting in an armchair, his two-year-old sister Evie sleeping in her arms. She looked as she always had to him. Somehow she didn't seem to age. A few crow's feet at the corners of her eyes from laughing maybe but little else had changed. Wearing a green jumper she was smiling at where Draco was sitting on the floor playing cars with Liam. The little metal vehicles ran over the carpet to the sounds of revving engines and squealing tires. A few casualties lay overturned under the Christmas tree.

It was his little brother who spotted him first and with a shout he was up and rushed towards him. His little body slammed into James' legs and he hoisted him high.

"Hi there, Liam." Pretending to struggle under the weight of him Liam giggled. "Did you get bigger? You're…so…heavy…I don't think I can…." He put him down and his little brother grinned up at him, tiny milk teeth winking in a face that was a harmonious mix of both his parents. He had the blonde hair of his dad and the brown eyes of his mum but the grin was all Malfoy.

"I did! I growed lots. I'm more tall than before." At five he was short for his age but knowing growth spurts came late in this family no one was surprised.

"I can see that! Why don't you go choose me a car? I want to play too." Nodding enthusiastically Liam set off. Heading over to his mum James bent over her and received a one armed hug. Careful to not wake Evie he whispered,

"Hi, mum."

"Hi, baby. How are you? You look great."  
"I take after my mum." She smiled and shook her head.

"Flatterer. It's great to have you home."

"It's great to be home." Kissing the top of her head he turned to greet Draco. Unfolding his tall frame from sitting on the floor he still had about two inches on James. Opening his arms he gave him a hard hug.

"Hi, kid."

"Hey, dad." It amused their relatives to no end that James referred to both Draco and Harry as dad but to him that was just the way of things. He had two dads, ever since he was thirteen. He still remembered the first time it had slipped out. It had been two years after Draco had married his mum and she had been pregnant with Liam. He'd been home for the summer and had gone to ask if he could go to a party held by a mate in London. He had all his arguments prepared and had worked out a deal he hoped she'd agree to. So he'd knocked and entered to find his mum on the floor, white as a sheet. Getting no reply when he shook her he'd panicked and run downstairs. Draco had been in the kitchen making lunch and it had just slipped out –

"Dad! Dad, you have to come!" And Draco dropped everything and rushed his mum to the hospital where it had in the end turned out to be nothing serious but while they waited, all three of them holding hands in the waiting room of St Mungos James had known without a doubt he had two dads now.

"Are you all in one piece, no parts missing, no heartbreaks, no third degree burns, no sniffles?" He sent a teasing glance to his mother. "Your mother worries about all of them." James' lips twitched.

"All good. How about you? Old age catching up with you yet?"

"I would be stupid if I let it, wouldn't I? No, all parts still in good working order."

"I'll vouch for that," his mum interjected from the couch.

"Gross, mum. Thanks." She chuckled and rose.

"This is looking like a long nap, I'll go put her in the crib and then we can all talk at a normal pitch." Ginny left and Draco offered him a drink.

"A beer please, I've been travelling since dawn." Then he settled down on the floor with Liam who offered him a little blue Lotus.

"Sweet."

o.O.o

Ginny got back downstairs to find Score just entering the hall. Rushing forward, now unobstructed by Evie she wrapped him in a hug.

"Sweetheart, you're here!" He had to bend to hug her back, as he was easily as tall as his father.

"Hi, mum. I've only been gone two weeks."

"It felt longer. Let me look at you." She stepped back and trailed her gaze over his face. As handsome as ever though he was slightly less the replica of his dad he had been when he was younger. If Draco looked like a rogue prince then his son looked all rogue. The dark hair was cut recently and his eyes, almost black in the dim light of the hall, glittered in amusement. He was dressed in a grey suit and a striped shirt and could have easily adorned any glossy magazine ad. "Still so good looking. I have such handsome sons."

"Liam, yes. The other one I'm not so sure. That may be motherly affection talking." Laughing that he couldn't help getting in a jibe at his brother she shook her head.

"I'm sure you like to think so." Score shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over the back of a chair rather than hanging it on a hook where it would damage the structure of the garment.

"Are you excited for tomorrow? A Weasley, Zabini-Lovegood, Montrelli Christmas?"

"Excited. Paralyzed. I don't know what possessed me to offer to have it here."

"Were you drunk?" Ginny laughed.

"I'm afraid not, just momentarily insane. But Liam and Evie are excited. She's just learnt what Santa means so we hear little else from her." Score chuckled.

"I'm getting a drink, can I get you something?"

"Please. Whatever you're having. We're all in the living room, come and sit with us."

"I will. It's good to be home, mum." He kissed her cheek and headed into the kitchen and Ginny sighed. She was still madly in love with her husband but even if she hadn't been she would be eternally grateful to him for the gift that was her second son. The day he had first called her mum something had clicked in place for her as if she'd always known he was hers. It had been the year after she married his father and he had come into the kitchen when she was doing the dishes. He had stood in the door for a little while holding something. Then, clear as day he had said,

"Mum, can you help me?" It had just been a ripped button on his shirt but she'd had to hug him and wipe a few tears before she could perform the easy spell to fix it. She still had that shirt though he had long since outgrown it.

Sighing in content knowing all her children were home she went back to the living room. Liam and James were now running the cars and Draco was sitting on the couch. Holding an arm out she easily slipped under it and settled against him.

"Score's here, he'll be in in a second."

"So can you relax now, all your chicks in one place?" She lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Are you calling me a mother hen?"

"Yes." She elbowed him. "A sexy one though." Rolling her eyes at him he grinned and the little thrill she still got from it chased down her chest to her stomach.

"Like you're not thrilled to have them all home." He sighed and pulled her close.

"I am." Score entered and greeted his dad and after a long hug he joined James and Liam on the floor and Draco sat back down. "We haven't done so bad, have we?" They looked at their three sons playing on the floor and Ginny smiled at him.

"I think we've done perfectly."

o.O.o

Score stretched and blinked at waking up in familiar yet strange surroundings. His old room hadn't changed since he left, his parents preferring to extend the house to giving his room to Liam or Evie. The walls were still the same quiet green and the bed the old single one he'd refused to upgrade. It was the most comfortable thing to sleep on he'd ever encountered. Squinting at the alarm clock he saw it was getting close to nine. Everyone but James would already be up at the breakfast table and knowing it was Christmas Day he decided to push the lazy former Gryffindor out of his room to join them all. Pulling on a sweatshirt to match the pajama bottoms he padded out in the hall. New pictures had joined the old ones on the wall. He saw the ones of him and James playing quidditch, of family days out, of holidays, of his parents' wedding, of his and James' graduation. Newer ones showed Liam and Evie, of all the siblings playing, of Liam proudly holding his first broom. Evie wrapped in the blanket with frogs on it she loved. There was a new one of his parents taken in the garden, a wizarding one and in it they laughed at each other before leaning in for a kiss that lingered. Smiling at them before crossing the hall to get to James' room Score knoecked a second before entering.

"Get up, loser." Picking up a cushion from the pile on the chair (it was there to sit on the made bed but when James was home it served little purpose) and threw it at the lump under the covers. Sitting up with a groan, his hair sticking out madly the former Gryffindor glowered at him.

"Are you looking to die, Malfoy?" Score leaned against the doorframe.

"I'd like to see you try that. Come on, I smell pancakes and I want some before dad's eaten them all."

"Pancakes?" James perked up slightly and with a sigh he rolled out of the bed. Pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved t-shirt he reached for his glasses, too early in the morning to bother with his contacts. "Let's go – I need coffee, preferably served in a bucket."

"You have such a refined character, Potter."

"Bite me."

"So inspired."

"Wait til I've had coffee, will you?" James grinned and they headed down the stairs.

In the kitchen their parents were sitting at the table, pancakes piled high on a plate in the middle. Evie in her high chair was humming to herself as she poked at a piece of pancake with a little plastic spoon. Liam was wholly focused on shoveling food into his mouth and his mum and dad were laughing at something, their heads bent towards each other.

"Morning," he greeted them. Evie squealed and kicked her legs and he bent to press a kiss on top of her bright red curls. "Hiya, gorgeous." His parents greeted him back and Liam mumbled something through the pancakes in his mouth. Ginny cleared her throat and his little brother swallowed dutifully before repeating,

"Good mowning." James grunted in return and poured coffee into a mug, drinking from it like a man dying from thirst.

"What's the rush, Liam?" Glancing at his mum and finishing chewing this time before speaking Liam responded,

"Santa's been here! There are presents under the tree _and_ in the stockings!"

"No? Cool."

"But I have to finish breakfast first, daddy says."

"Yeah, he's a real party pooper." Liam snorted with laughter and Draco shook his head in amusement.

"Just for that you have to finish your breakfast too before you get presents."

"Aww, dad!"

"Way to go, Malfoy, make us all suffer," James joked and piled pancakes on his plate. Tucking in he sent his mum exactly the same look Liam just had before swallowing and speaking.

"Nice pancakes, dad."

"How do you know he made them?" Ginny asked, her eyes narrowing.

"They're better than yours." Eyes glittering he bent his head over the plate as his mum laughed.

"We'll see if Santa's left you anything at all with those manners." Feeling he was truly home Score reached for a pancake of his own.

o.O.o

Draco was amazed they all fit. The Montrelli clan, the Weasley dynasty, the Zabini-Lovegood family as well as Oliver and Neville, all spread through the house. Food stood in the kitchen and everyone could go and get themselves some when they wanted as there was no chance of fitting everyone for a sit-down meal. Milling in and out people were chatting while holding plates and drinks all around. At a glance he could see one of the teenage Weasley boys staring dreamily at a Montrelli niece as he blushed furiously. Luna was talking to Maria Montrelli about wine to improve her conjuration and Ollie was demonstrating a quidditch move to a group of younger Weasleys. If someone had told him eight years ago this scene would ever occur in his kitchen he would have laughed in their face and herded Score away to safety from the lunatic. Yet here they all were and all because Ginny Weasley had to inspect his house for illegal magic use. Looking around for her he spotted her just coming into the room, Blaise behind her. A tug went through his chest. She was still so beautiful. He had seen her every day for seven years and still she managed to make him catch his breath. She was wearing a silver dress and glittering diamonds hung from her ears, her vibrant hair was swept up and leaving the column of her throat bare. He couldn't wait to set his teeth to it and hear her sigh, his name falling from her lips like a whisper. As if she sensed his gaze she turned to him and as her eyes met his he felt the electricity crackle in the air. Her hand fluttered to her throat and the rings he'd given her winked from her fourth finger. He saw her swallow and felt his own throat tighten. The caramel color of her eyes deepened to brandy and a vague blush bloomed on her cheeks. He saw his own wish reflect in the depths of her gaze and his grasp on his glass tightened.

"Don't you think you're too old to have eye sex with your wife in a room full of people?" Neville, in search of a drink, had appeared next to him. Without losing eye contact with Ginny Draco smiled and sipped from his drink, enjoying the sensation of the whisky easing his dry throat.

"No. Not when my wife looks like that." The former Gryffindor chuckled.

"Well, she's a lucky woman." He turned, a glass in his hand. "And you're a lucky man." He set off towards Oliver and Ginny reached him.

"Hi."

"Hello yourself." He brushed a curl that had fallen from the hairdo behind her ear. "Neville thinks we're too old to have "eye sex", what do you think about that?"

"Eye sex?" She laughed. "Is that what we're doing?"

"It was most definitely what I was doing."  
"I could feel that." She stood on her tiptoes to press a peck to his lips but before she could let go he put his drink down and hauled her against him. Deepening the kiss he felt rather than heard the sigh he'd been imagining escape her. Drinking in the taste of her he thanked whoever would listen for the millionth time for bringing the light that was his wife into his life. Setting her back down she blinked a few times.

"Well, wow." He smiled at her.

"Why, thank you."

"My pleasure."

"Ours, I think." She cleared her throat and the delicate blush reappeared.

"Ours." Shaking her head she continued, "You're very distracting. I came in here to check on the food."

"There's still plenty and that's after everyone in your family has been up for seconds twice."

"Good," she sighed and looked out over the room. "I can't believe they all fit."

"I was just thinking that."

"And I can't believe Harry made it. I think this is the first Christmas he's made it to since James was a baby."

"He's here?"

"Yeah, in the living room. I even think he's having a good time."

"Good. Did James see he's here?"

"Mhm. He's happy to have both his dads in one place, I think."

"It doesn't happen too often."

"Thank Merlin." Surprised, Draco looked down to meet her gaze.

"Really?"

"Of course. I like when Harry comes for James' sake but I have all I need when you and our children are here." His insides softened.

"Me too."

"Are you two being gross and lovey-dovey?" Blaise interrupted the moment.

"We're trying to, so if you could kindly shove off and let us get back to it, Zabini."

"Like I want to be here while you spout lame poetry and look like a puppy gazing adoringly at his mistress. I'm here for the booze."

"Color me surprised. Leave some for the rest of us. Staying drunk is the only way we can bear your presence." Blaise grinned and hooked an arm over Draco's shoulders.

"I love you too, you bastard." Then he toasted them and winked at Ginny before steering towards his wife.

"Is he drunk?" Ginny asked, surprise painted over her features. Grinning, Draco shook his head.

"No, I think we just saw some seldom seen Christmas cheer."

Four hours later the partygoers had left and Ginny was pulling the earrings from her ears, putting them in the little bowl on the dresser she used for the purpose. Full and content Draco lay on top of the covers on the bed watching her. Pulling the clip from her hair it tumbled down her back and his blood suddenly started pounding in his veins. Like waves on a shore he felt it ebb and flow, pounding in his abdomen. After seven years together he knew exactly what those curls felt like when he ran his hands through the silky weight of it, how it ran soft like water over his hands when he wound them in it. Meeting his gaze in the mirror above the dresser she smiled and tilted her head.

"Would you mind helping me with the zipper?" Getting up he felt his skin warm, lightning gathering in the air as the tension built.

"Not at all." Reaching her he felt her hair brush the back of his hands as he pulled the zipper down. The sound of it seemed to echo in his head much louder than normal and he felt the warmth of her skin against his fingers. Running his hands back up to her shoulders he pushed the straps down and the garment fell, pooling at her feet. Turning to face him he felt as if he lost all the air in his lungs. Under the dress she was wearing a black strapless bra and matching panties, a lacy garter belt holding up sheer stockings.

"Merlin, you're beautiful."

"I hate it when you call me Merlin in bed." A choked laugh escaped him and he lowered his head to her shoulder.

"You look…absolutely breathtaking…Ginevra."

"That's better." Her voice was a little breathy and he knew he wasn't alone in feeling the tension.

"I wanted to thank you for my Christmas gift. It's perfect." He brushed his lips over her neck and felt her pulse flutter under her skin.

"Good, I'm glad you like it." Her head fell back under his ministrations and her hands bunched the fabric of his shirt where she gripped it.

"But I…ah! I…wanted to ask for one more gift." He stopped what he was doing, admiring the way her pale skin had a blooming mark from his lips.

"Anything." He would always give her anything she wanted. Anything that was in his power, anything he owned, anything he could humanly accomplish would all be hers if she wanted it.

"Draco, would you give me another little girl?" His smile was instant and he lifted her off her feet to spin her around. Joy like fireworks exploded in his chest.

"I take that is a yes?" She laughed and held on to him.

"A thousand times yes. As many as you want to give me I will give you." She wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Well, maybe not a thousand. One will do." Laughing with her they fell to the bed and in moments the laughter gave way to the building heat. Before drowning in her completely Draco marveled how this woman could show him new heights of happiness, over and over until sorrows paled into mere shadows, bleak now from the sun. Where there had before been only impenetrable darkness there was now blinding sunlight, leaving only shades in the deepest crevices. With everyday with her the light reached further into the recesses of his mind until he realized the ghosts of the past were dead and gone. And all because of her. She wasn't only the woman he loved, the sun in his universe – she was his new beginning. Where his life had started over. The second beginning.

The End

A/N: Wow, this is sadder than I thought it would be! Thank you everyone, I hope you enjoyed. If there is something you're itching to see while waiting for my next story then you can always prompt me, either drop me a message here or on Tumblr where I'm SilkenDreamer. I hope to see you around.

Love,

Sannikex

Muddier waters: I'm really glad you enjoyed the party – I had a lot of fun writing it. I hope you liked this one too, it's almost as long again! Thank you for taking the time to review!

Guest 1: Thank you :)

Pizziagirl: Thank you, as always!

Lady Mischief: The party was fun, I'm happy you enjoyed it. As for Score I thought it was time James made good on his promise they were friends for real! Thank you very much for reviewing it means a lot

MissesE: I know, their house seems pretty awesome, doesn't it? I want to live there too! I'm glad you enjoyed the pot/kettle joke, it seems to be a hit around here and I had a lot of fun writing all Draco/Blaise scenes. I'm so pleased you're liking the story and thank you for taking the time to review – three times!

Guest 2: He is blissfully happy indeed! I think they both are :) I will definitely write more and D/G is always a given for me – I've shipped it for sixteen years now so I'm not about to give up, haha.

Roni2010: Thank you for leaving a review! The Harry and James scene was tricky to write so I'm really glad to hear you liked it – I think Harry will be a better dad in the future but that doesn't mean you can't have two! Score and James grew up to be best firneds, I think and will enjoy each other's company until they're old! Thank you for sticking with the story!

Pottermum: Thank you and thanks for your support through the story!

Blinck22: I do a happy dance myself when I get a review alert! I'm so happy you liked the party chapter. I'm quite sad to wrap this up myself, I've really enjoyed writing it and it's been with me a long time now. I can assure you I will keep writing, just add me on Author Alert to see when!

Guest 3: Thank you, I'm glad to hear you do!

Hpfangirl6998: Wow, thank you – that gives me hope someone will like my original stuff once it's out there one day. I thoroughly enjoy the Romeo and Juliet vibe to D &amp; G, it's what drew me to the ship in the first place so I'm really glad you like that too! The sex scene was cut short to keep with the rating, I'm afraid, but hopefully we can all use our imagination for what happened next :P

KayLeng: Is that a Mass Effect username you have? If it is I can only approve as I'm wearing my N7 shirt as I write this :D I will always keep writing, I hope you will be around to enjoy! So glad to hear you like it and thank you for taking the time to review!

Guest 4: Thank you and you're welcome, feedback on what I do is a big part of the reward for me!

Little Miss Invisible: In a way you can be happy to catch it late as my poor followers have had to wait a VERY long time for each update! I'm so happy you like the characterization, I really like writing my little weirdoes so much. I'm also really pleased you consider D/G possible, I have liked this pairing for a very long time so anyone liking it too makes me happy! I'm sad to be finishing but I'm amazed at the support I've had and how much fun it's been – I can't wait to find a new world to "furnish" with my characters and ideas. Your Merry Christmas came on the right day for me as we celebrate the 24th in Sweden and it was a great Christmas present! /S.

Guest 5/6: I'm pretty sure you're the same guest, if not I'm sorry! I do agree with you, stories that make Harry mentally unstable or violent so Ginny can be with someone else are ridiculous. Draco certainly has many traits I have invented for him, but as you say he was largely uncertain at the end of what we know. I believe time has changed him a bit, if not as much as he has in this story! Well spotted on noticing my borrowing the name Prentiss from Criminal Minds, that is indeed the case, I was watching it at the time of writing the first chapter. I didn't actually make a connection between Hotch's relationship and this one until you mentioned it but it is quite similar. And dad rules are always different than mum rules – I've had a few fun dad nights too. So pleased you are enjoying and that you like the dialogue – my characters do spend a lot of time talking! Thank you for taking the time to review, it means a lot to me!


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